“In this case, the number of protagonists is important”, immediately explains the president of the criminal court this Tuesday, May 24, early in the morning. On one side, several minors, judged by the court for children of Moulins. On the other, seven adults referred to the Montluçonnais correctional court.
All of them are accused of participating, to varying degrees, in cannabis resin trafficking, mainly in the Verrerie district of Montluçon, but also in Bien-Assis, between the end of 2017 and 2018.
An Albanian, soon to be tried in the case of the Nice attack, sentenced in Montluçon (Allier) for vast drug trafficking
Different degrees of involvement
It was after several years of investigation, during which surveillance, wiretapping and numerous hearings were carried out, that the supposed role of the seven indicted could be determined. With two main locations identified…
First of all, a deal point, at the foot of the old D building in the Verrerie district. There, enter the scene three first defendants. Three “operators”, 24 years old (for two) and 23 years old, in charge of managing this deal point on a daily basis. At the helm, if one of these “operators” assures that he was only cutting and detailing the narcotic, the second recognizes his active participation. He brought the cannabis to the point of sale and collected the money. The third, absent at the hearing, admitted during the investigation to have sold narcotics but for his own network.
These three “operators” were sentenced to the same sentence: two years’ imprisonment, of which eighteen months with probationary suspension of two years.
Drug trafficking dismantled in Désertines (Allier), two men sentenced
A nanny and “satellites”
The second place identified by the investigators is a dwelling in the rue Raquin, serving as a nanny. The 45-year-old tenant (absent at the hearing), a cannabis resin and heroin user, admitted the facts. He was given a one-year suspended prison sentence.
The last three defendants remain. Among which are two men aged 28 and 29, with “less significant involvement”, as the prosecutor explains. “Satellites” in contact with other protagonists in this case. The 28-year-old cannabis user reportedly warned the deal point of the arrival of the police but denied any involvement in the traffic. Relaxed for drug trafficking, he was sentenced for use: six months suspended.
The other “satellite”, the 29-year-old, was checked several times with large sums (€1,500, €380, €1,750). Sums that he explains in particular by sports betting. Also released for trafficking, he was sentenced for non-justification of resources and for having refused to give the unlock code for his phone to the police: eight months suspended.
Violence, beatings, threats … A forty-something would have made his wife live “a night in hell” in La Celle (Allier)
The man suspected of being the head of the network
Last defendant, the one suspected of being the head of the network. The 30-year-old Montluçonnais, who has always denied, has been identified as such by several sellers. He too was checked with a lot of cash (€500, €1,130, €360, €840, €3,240).
He was also arrested in Bien-Assis with a bag containing just over 500 g of cannabis resin and his DNA was found on liquid and a bag of narcotics at a seller’s. Finally, more than 10 g of cocaine were found in his home. He was sentenced to three years in prison, two of which were probationary suspended for two years.
Trafficking in cannabis resin, cocaine, cigarettes… Two young people sentenced to Montluçon (Allier)
Laura Morel
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