A bar-PMU just opposite Caen station (Calvados). The meeting place seemed obvious: it is here that Bien has his little habits. He shakes hands with the boss behind the counter, greets the son who takes care of the tobacco and settles down at a table apart. In two hours, he has football with his friends from the club. “But it’s a friendly match,” he laughs as a beer is brought to him. The young man from Suriname has assimilated the Norman lifestyle well. And the locals give it back to him. Here, we are aware that “he had stories”, but we do not go into too much detail. He is “friendly, smiling and never causes problems”. For the rest…
This landscaper, who lives as a couple, nevertheless has an extraordinary life trajectory. It was a mule, that is to say, a person paid a few thousand euros to transport cocaine from America to Europe. A carrier not very gifted. He was caught twice in Orly (Val-de-Marne) and Charles-de-Gaulle (Val-d’Oise). The second time, he had ingested nearly 600 g of white powder to deceive customs. Result: at 31, he has already spent more than two years behind bars. After his match, he will have to be home before 5 p.m. as part of his judicial review.
A life at odds with the one he knew in Guyana. “I came there when I was 10 because my mother needed surgery. We settled in the countryside, near Mana. To make ends meet, he hunts and makes wooden statuettes to resell to tourists. One euro coin. System D to survive. He feeds above all on his passion for dance. “The first time I went to France, it was not for cocaine. It was to go to the Paris Opera for a casting. »
He swallows small eggs containing 5 g, “like tablets”
Through his dance association, he mobilizes precisely to prevent young people from giving in to the temptation of playing the mule. A height. ” Over there, it’s super commonplace to transport cocaine. We see people with big cars and gold chains. We know very well where this money comes from, even though they don’t even have college certificates. Well, he got his baccalaureate and enrolled in a BTS in horticulture while giving dance lessons. He hangs on to stay on the straight and narrow. But a bad pass makes him switch.
“I had just had a baby girl and several deaths in my family. Financially, I was really in trouble. In Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, a guy I barely knew said to me: You carry this for me and I’ll give you 8,000 euros. The young man who fought against drugs dons the mule costume. “I was given a plane, train and taxi ticket. Almost 200 euros for the trip. I had to deliver in the Lyon region. The drug — nearly 500 g of cocaine — is hidden in his underpants.
At the airport, Bien’s heart beats. A customs officer feels his confusion. He asks him if he has any drugs on him. “I don’t like to lie,” the mule admits blandly. Warrant of deposit. He discovers the prison, the fights, the fellow prisoner who wants to make him his thing. “We had to fight to not be bothered anymore. In Fresnes (Val-de-Marne), he also finds plenty of other young people from Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni who have fallen for the same reason as him. He is released after fourteen months of detention.
PODCAST. Why so many Guyanese “mules” land at Orly every day
Upon his release from prison, Bien chose to stay in France. He finds a job in a galvanizing factory, near Troyes (Aube). Above all, he meets the woman who will become his companion. A serious love story. He also takes her to Guyana to introduce her to his family. The stay is going well. But the day before departure, during an evening with his childhood friends, one of them slips to him that a mule has just let him down. 10,000 euros si Bien replaces it at short notice. “We were among ourselves. I said yes. It was stupid. “He swallows dozens of small eggs containing 5 g, “like pills”.
“Friends died before they even reached the airport”
The next morning, cold sweats on waking. “When I looked at my partner, I immediately regretted what I had done. I tried to make myself vomit in the toilet. I did not succeed. It was too late. Well, don’t tell him. At Roissy airport, he was stopped by customs. “From Cayenne, I had been spotted”, he will learn later. Like all the mules who have ingested the cocaine, he is taken to the Cusco room, to the Hôtel-Dieu (Paris IVe). “Because of the stress”, it takes him three nights to expel the drugs. He had swallowed 600 g of white powder. In Bobigny, he will receive three years in prison, two of which are suspended. It is this sentence that he continues to serve under judicial supervision. “My mother is angry with me for doing this. With us, we don’t steal. »
Why did he give in to temptation? “It’s so simple. In Guyana, it’s as commonplace as buying a baguette. This trivialization, her lawyer, Laura Temin, hammers home during workshops where she involves her client. Bien tells his story, recites the examples of those who fell like him. “I don’t want to talk about easy money by talking about mules. I have friends who died before they even reached Cayenne airport because a cocaine egg burst. Young people are murdered after handing over the drugs so that the trafficker does not have to pay them. I saw mothers take all these risks to support their families. »
And him now? “I have my home, my partner, a landscaping job that interests me… I would just like people to understand what drives young people to take such risks. I would also like to make them understand that doing the mule is a false good idea. »
