Fifteen defendants were tried by the Albi court for drug trafficking. A long investigation had brought to light a well-organized structure on the internet via Snapchat messaging, a “company” with operators, delivery men, managers … who operated between Albi and Toulouse
It is a large-scale trial which was held for two days at the Albi judicial court. 15 defendants, almost as many lawyers, and a vast drug trafficking dismantled by the police, after months of investigation. Traffic 2.0, “new generation”, which makes the job of investigators even more difficult. Delivery men, operators and project managers have replaced the usual lookouts and point of deal managers.
Everything happens on the internet and by phone. Orders are placed on the Snapchat social network, the operators tell the delivery people where to go, the nannies store the goods. And above this small “company”, a duo of brothers, the managers. From the little nanny to the managers, all gathered for two days at the Albi courthouse. A man nicknamed “the couz”, above this set, has sometimes been mentioned without anyone knowing more about this enigmatic boss. Only that it was he who passed the network on to the two managers, to take a step back after various legal disputes. While keeping a close eye on the small business.
Snowball effect
This investigation which brought to light this network begins as often by the greatest of luck. The Albi police officers control a young woman in the wrong way in the center of the city. A strong smell of cannabis emanates from his car. She is arrested, her car searched. Several hundred euros, sachets of drugs are discovered. This first arrest will have a snowball effect. The young woman explains that she is not from the area, she is staying with her cousin. Besides, it was her car that she was driving. The search of the cousin’s home will uncover other small amounts of drugs and prepaid phones. Investigators continue to pull the thread. While searching a little more, they raided another apartment in which they found a shoebox containing 4000 ecstasy pills. The investigation will then take even more scope. The police put several suspects under surveillance.
“I am not here to ask for your mercy”
By dint of surveillance and listening, several members of the network are identified. They operate in Albi and Toulouse, some live in the Gard. Several round trips to Spain are brought to light by the investigation for supplies. In November 2020, the police simultaneously question the entire team. Cocaine, cannabis, speed, ecstasy, MDMA, ketamine etc, tally sheets are seized. Four members of the group were still in pre-trial detention on Monday. The “little hands” appeared free after several months spent behind bars.
“I am not here to ask for your mercy. I know why I am in prison. I am here to ask forgiveness from my co-authors, their families. If he hadn’t known me, if they hadn’t crossed my path, they wouldn’t be here ”. It is one of the two managers who speaks, the big brother, the head of the network.
“New modes of drug trafficking”
The 15 defendants know each other more or less well. They survive in the same universe. They met at a festival or a rave party. Obtaining a confession was not difficult, everyone acknowledges their involvement without batting an eyelid. Although according to the survey, the traffic could generate nearly 50,000 € in 14 days, a million euros over a year ”said the prosecutor, we are far from seasoned dealers,“ traffic in building halls and regulations account ”. The prosecutor sees in it “a new mode of drug trafficking, which adapts to the new modes of vacuum, discreet and efficient which complicates the work of investigation”.
The respective pleadings of the thirteen lawyers present are similar. They all insist on their client’s efforts to reintegrate, on their criminal record, or almost nothing, on their confessions. “There is no criminal dangerousness of these young people”; “There is no violence in this file”; “We are far from the Toulouse or Bordeaux cases with much larger quantities of drugs” insist the lawyers of the defendants.
“We wanted to take into account certain things in this file, like your efforts to recognize the facts, it shows your capacities to reinstate you”, will conclude the president of the court. The head of the network receives 5 years in prison, 40 months for the co-manager and his right-hand man. The other defendants will be sentenced to terms ranging from 8 to 26 months in prison, most of which can be adapted.
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