Major Crime Syndicate Trial Begins in Béziers with Heightened Security

A large contingent of police, gendarmes, and agents from the Regional Intervention and Security Team (Eris) have been deployed to the courthouse to ensure the safety and serenity of the trial, reports Midi Libre. Among the defendants are members of the same family, well known in Béziers, who own car garages, a sports hall and nightclubs that they allegedly used as a screen to secretly conduct their alleged trafficking and money laundering.

The case came to light after the gendarmes of Pézenas received in 2020 a denunciation of a drug trafficking from an anonymous witness. The agents then conducted their investigations and managed to locate the drug traffickers, two brothers, who were very active in the commune of Montblanc and the surrounding area. But the investigators discover that it is actually a criminal network that, in addition to drug trafficking, also engages in arms trafficking, cigarettes and stolen cars, and money laundering.

Seventeen suspects were arrested on April 4, 2020, and two others, who were in Morocco and Armenia, a few weeks later. In total, more than 30 weapons including assault weapons, thousands of cigarettes, large quantities of ammunition of various calibers, bulletproof vests, fake police cards, drugs, as well as 53,000 euros in cash were seized. The investigators also found 134 victims of car thefts, which were resold by the defendants who were trafficking their odometers.

During this ten-day trial, the lawyers will have four days to present their pleadings, after the first day which was devoted to the reading of the charges against the defendants. The lawyer for the main defendants, absent, could request the postponement of the case.