A 32-year-old individual who was selling hard drugs bought in the Netherlands in France was arrested, indicted and imprisoned, 42 kilos of heroin being seized at his home, the Thionville prosecutor’s office announced on Tuesday evening.
This “exceptional seizure” represents “nearly 10% of the heroin seized in France since the beginning of the year,” said the public prosecutor of Thionville, Brice Partouche, in a statement.
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Besides heroin, 4 kilos of cocaine, 17 kilos of products intended to cut drugs, 115,000 euros in cash, 4 vehicles and an automatic pistol were also seized at the home of the individual, in Hayange (Moselle).
An encrypted telecommunications application cracked by the gendarmes
This operation, carried out by the Thionville research brigade and the Metz research section, was made possible by the “cracking of codes by the national gendarmerie” of the Dutch encrypted telecommunications application Encrochat.
The authorities were thus able to “take cognizance of the contents of this messaging”, which since June 2020 has allowed waves of arrests “in a very large number of cases” under the aegis of the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction (JIRS) of Lille .
In September, an operation carried out in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Hungary and Slovakia after the interception of communications on Encrochat had already led to the arrest of 17 people involved in a criminal network of drug trafficking.
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