Major Drug Trafficking Trial Begins in Narbonne for 12 Accused Smugglers

Initially active in the Bourg/Voltaire neighborhood in Narbonne, this cocaine and cannabis trafficking network later extended its tentacles to several neighboring municipalities. The criminal organization was dismantled in December last year and 12 of its members were arrested. Assisted by their lawyers, they will try to defend themselves during the five-day hearing, reports La Dépêche.

The gang fell following an investigation conducted between November 9, 2021 and January 30, 2023, after the elements of the research section (SR) of Montpellier began to suspect a couple and their son of cocaine trafficking in Narbonne in September 2021. On January 27, 2022, a judicial investigation was opened and revealed the existence of a vast cocaine trafficking network coordinated from Narbonne, and which supplied more than 200 distribution and resale points in the Aude department.

The network’s "lieutenants" were responsible for delivering the dealers and collecting the money from the traffic at their level. Most of the defendants are being prosecuted as repeat offenders, as they have already been convicted of drug-related activities. Held in detention or under judicial supervision, they are accused of possession, transfer and transport of drugs, membership in a criminal network and participation in the trafficking of cocaine and cannabis.

This daily traffic generated significant sums of money for the couple who led this criminal network, which they reinvested or transferred abroad, particularly to Morocco, through a smuggler. The criminal activity allowed the woman, who lives alone with three children, to receive more than 1,000 euros per month in family allowances, and her partner, to earn 2,000 euros for a fictitious job. He is also accused of money laundering.