Major Drug Trafficking Trial Begins in Nîmes: 108 kg Cannabis Seized in Morocco-France Operation

The Jonquilles affair, recounts Midi libre, is that of the defendants who went as far as Algeciras (a city at the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula, just across from Morocco) with two cars, to load up on drugs, to bring them back up to Nîmes where they will be distributed to be then sold. The plan did not go all the way through as the gendarmes of the SR Nîmes got their hands on the precious merchandise on April 23, 2019.

According to the investigators, it is a snack that serves as a base for these traffickers. Its manager, also tried for complicity, said he acted under the control of the traffickers.

Determined to dismantle this network and its practices, the president of the court, Almendros, is personally conducting this trial, to find out about the modus operandi of the Jonquilles gang who were able to bring up the 108 kg of drugs with two cars, one loaded with cannabis resin from Morocco, the other loaded to open the way.

The absence of one of the figures in this case marked the debates, as did his Parisian lawyer, Me Amar Bouaou, who could not come to Nîmes for the trial, because he was ill. One of the accused claims that his participation in the go-fast was improvised: "We had our own phones, it wasn’t organized." The president infers a form of trivialization of this type of act. There are still sentences of 10 and 20 years for the defendants tried as repeat offenders.

At the stand, the seven defendants answered the questions at ease, notes the same source. Most have covered the main protagonist and suspect in the case, who is being held abroad. The trial continues.