They had been caught in the cigarette box. Two men involved in the street sale at the Garges-Sarcelles station were tried in immediate appearance, this Wednesday in Pontoise. A dealer, who had just bought 100 cartridges to sell them in the area, received a two-month suspended prison sentence, his delivery man a six-month suspended sentence.
Both were released from court on Wednesday afternoon but will have to find another place to sell their cigarettes. The first, sentenced for possession of counterfeit products, is prohibited from staying in Garges for a year, and the second, tried for selling on the sly, for three years. Their cartridges were seized along with the money from the transaction. They had never had to deal with justice before.
Sarcelles police on patrol rue du Noyer-des-Belles-Filles, near the station, spotted a man on Monday recovering a box from the trunk of a Citroën C4. The box is open and filled with cartridges, a second box is next to it. Mohamed B., 27, who lives with his sister in Garges, admitted having bought 100 cartridges from his supplier for 2,200 euros, “to sell them at the Chapel or at the Garges-Sarcelles station”, confides- he in court.
40 euros in earnings per day according to the seller
“I have been doing this since the end of confinement. I used to work in the markets. “He assures that it was” the first time “that he buys so many cigarettes and specifies that he was able to acquire the 100 cartridges for 2,200 euros thanks to friends who would have bet 500 euros each. “I resell 5 euros the floor, 50 euros the cartridge”, he adds, ensuring that I only earn 40 euros per day. “To survive on a daily basis”, will plead his lawyer.
Arrested at the wheel of the C4, its supplier, Suhban U., 34, would be a former police officer who arrived in France in 2017, came on foot from Pakistan. His asylum application was refused but he is not in an irregular situation. “I didn’t know what was in the trunk,” he begins by telling the court before changing his mind. “I didn’t know it was dangerous. I didn’t know it was forbidden. I see a lot of people doing that,” he says. He adds that he only made this one delivery to send money to his “very sick” brother. This leaves the prosecutor skeptical, who notes that the messages found in his cell phone strongly resemble a series of delivery instructions.
A “less risky” source of income than drug trafficking
Cigarette trafficking clearly generates significant profits. The Citroën C4 had been provided to the delivery man who had been paid, he said, 1,500 euros. In a context report attached to the proceedings, the Sarcelles police describe street vendors who take up position at the station sometimes as early as 4:30 a.m. to hide cigarettes and money in particular in street furniture, keeping on them only the bare minimum in the event of a police intervention. The PV speaks of appointed positions and sales which begin at 6 o’clock.
“The trafficking of contraband cigarettes generates a flourishing and juicy illegal economy,” confirmed the prosecutor, Luc Pellerin, at the hearing. “It is also a less risky source of income than drug trafficking. This sale is also a fixation point for irregular immigration around the Garges-Sarcelles station but also Argenteuil where a punch operation is carried out. The gathering of all these sellers generates delinquency and induced criminality. There are rivalries between them that often end in stabbings. »
Cigarettes made from “a bit of everything”
Added to this, he continues, is a public health problem: “these contraband cigarettes are made up of a little tobacco and a little bit of everything, especially with harmful products. »
Like Garges-Sarcelles station or Arnouville-Villiers-le-Bel station, Argenteuil station has been confronted for several months with the activity of many street vendors. Punch operations are regularly carried out by the Argenteuil police to catch sellers in the act. They have materialized for several weeks with dozens of referrals to the Pontoise public prosecutor’s office and bans on appearing in the town, according to our information.
A street vendor, who returned to Argenteuil despite this ban imposed by the courts to sell cigarettes, was again arrested and sentenced in immediate appearance to four months in prison. The court did not issue a warrant of committal but the prison is reaching out to him in the event of a repeat offence.
If the sellers are still present today at the station, it is in fewer numbers. On the spot, we evoke “a situation which is calming down” while conceding that the situation remains fragile.
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