Laughing gas traffic still works. Nearly four months after a record seizure of 7 tons in Noisiel (Seine-et-Marne), the police have just got their hands on a huge quantity of nitrous oxide again. Nearly 6,000 bottles were found on Saturday afternoon in Charenton-le-Pont (Val-de-Marne). The equivalent of several tons of product. Four men, suspected of being involved in this traffic, were taken into custody, the Créteil prosecutor’s office confirmed to us this Sunday morning.
Near a storage box of a furniture storage unit, rue Escoffier around 5:30 p.m., a crew from the territorial anti-crime brigade is intrigued by the ride of three men who load boxes stored on pallets into the back of a truck. . The officials get out of their vehicle and ask for clarification. Individuals recognize without difficulty that it is indeed bottles of laughing gas. On the boxes, mentions like “Cream Deluxe”, “Nitrous oxide” or the symbol of Snapchat, the ephemeral social network.
The suspects, as well as a fourth who will be arrested a few minutes later when he arrives by car, are taken to the Charenton police station. In the pocket of one of the men, nearly 5,800 euros in cash. Another had false Italian papers on him. Local investigators are currently seized but the territorial security should recover the case.
Disastrous health effects
Over-the-counter, laughing gas, which is obtained at retail in the form of cartridges for Chantilly cream siphons or in the medical community for anesthetic purposes, is popular with partygoers and young people, who divert its use to its euphoric effect. For health, the effects are disastrous. This is the reason why since June 1, 2021, a law prohibits “the sale and distribution” of this product “in order to obtain psychoactive effects”, under penalty of a fine of 3,750 euros.
In December, seven tons of laughing gas with a market value of 2.7 million euros were seized in Seine-et-Marne. The result of an investigation opened by the Lyon public prosecutor’s office for street selling, concealed work in an organized gang and sale of a product intended to facilitate the extraction of this gas to obtain its psychoactive effects. The head of this international network was finally arrested at Le Bourget (Seine-Saint-Denis).
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