“Insurance”, dealer racketeering or a “staging” for information? At the trial of the police officers of the anti-crime brigade (BAC) of the 18th arrondissement of Paris, the court slipped inside their vehicles on Wednesday, wiretapped for four months in 2019. The noise of an engine. A police radio. A window that goes down. “Does it work tonight?” throws a policeman at a drug dealer.
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The scene dates from April 16, 2019, in the Goutte d’Or district in Paris. The slightly hoarse voice that resonates in the courtroom is that of Karim M. said “Bylka”, the main defendant who appears in the box. The 16th correctional chamber, which judges six officials for corruption, drug trafficking and forgery in particular, decided to listen on Wednesday to certain conversations recorded in their cars. In the sound extract, Karim M. concludes: “You never work without insurance on the plot”. The president, Isabelle Prévost-Desprez, summarizes: “‘If you take the insurance you continue to deal, otherwise you are arrested. The question is, what is insurance ”.
For the prosecution, this is a way of monetizing police protection by taking “Envelopes” money to some dealers. “I have absolutely not received any money, Rolex or anything”, the policeman defends himself. During the investigation, a trafficker had told another official to have given 20,000 euros and two luxury watches to “Bylka”, adding that the episode had been filmed – a video not found.
“Play”
The court released a new recording, dating from May 9, 2019. That day, three police officers embarked a small dealer nicknamed “La Boule” and took him to Aubervilliers, outside any legal framework. “It pisses me off but we’re still going to ‘jump’ you (stop you Editor’s note)”, launches the police officer Mehmet C. “Nah, unless he goes into the winning camp”, continues Karim M. “Unless he subscribes …” start a third, “… insurance”, concludes Karim M.
The conversation continues for several minutes, in a tense atmosphere. “If you’re a guy who ‘poukave’ (who gives information to the police officers, Editor’s note), you don’t have to worry”, continues Karim M. He encourages him to open “A small field” de deal. “How are you going to get permission?” he asks. “I’ll let you know“, Whispers “The ball” before going down. All that, “It’s a bluff”, a “Play, in quotes”, justifies “Bylka”. He claims that he made the dealers believe that there was indeed police protection in order to obtain information.
“Every traffic site that has been caught thinks that the land opposite is working with the police”, he said. So “I use this fantasy“. A “Silly joke”, estimates another policeman at the bar. A “Role play”said the third. “It’s called sequestration”, pushes the prosecutor in addressing “Bylka”. “You say you have a thug in the car, a delinquent. Don’t you think you’re using rogue methods? ”
– “That’s why I used the term + theatrical + …”
– “But are you a policeman or an actor?”
“Unsustainable”
The court listens to another sound extract, dated April 22, 2019: the arrest of a man at Porte de La Chapelle, suspected of crack trafficking. Slamming doors, broken glass, cries: “You attack me like that!”, “I did nothing”, we hear, as the car starts. Then the siren sounds and the muffled sound of twenty blows follows one another, insults rain down. “I have lots of blood on my t-shirt”one of them said at the end. “Unsustainable”, summarizes the president. “I recognize the violence I have committed, I deeply regret it”, declares one of the defendants, Alexandre C. He says he had “fear”, describes a very violent context that day – “Throwing stones, excrements”, windshield “Exploded” – and his “Dramatic personal situation” of the time. “I unpin”.
Apart from the violence, the police are also on trial for having, that day, made believe that the man arrested had two crackers on him – drugs in fact confiscated the day before on another. For the first time, Alexandre C. recognizes a “Dressing”. “I took the place of justice and I regret it bitterly today”, he assures. The man arrested was, the next day, sentenced to 18 months in prison. The trial is due to end Thursday evening.
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