A significant cocaine trafficking operation between France and Brazil, involving baggage handlers at Paris’s Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport, has been dismantled and eight individuals have been arrested, the gendarmerie announced on Saturday.
The arrests were made on 3 June across several regions including Oise, Pas-de-Calais, Seine-et-Marne, Val-de-Marne, Val-d’Oise, and Seine-Saint-Denis. The operation involved 105 gendarmes and various specialised services.
Towards the end of 2024, airport security discovered two boxes containing 45 blocks of cocaine, totalling 50 kg, during a routine check, according to a gendarmerie statement corroborating Le Parisien’s report.
Following the identification of this drug route from Brazil to Charles-de-Gaulle airport, the SRTA was tasked with investigating by Junalco, the National Jurisdiction Against Organised Crime.
Special investigative techniques revealed the network’s extensive operations, particularly active in Seine-Saint-Denis, utilising several employees and managers from an airport company to smuggle 20 to 50 kilograms of cocaine monthly.
Nearly €500,000 in criminal assets and over €100,000 in cash were seized during the 3rd June operation, alongside five vehicles, a house, luxury goods including clothing, perfumes, jewellery, and a handgun.
The gendarmerie noted that this case highlights the ability of criminal organisations to bribe airport agents, especially targeting mid-level managers not known to law enforcement.
