Ile-de-France: a drug trafficker was arrested with 1.3 million euros of cocaine

“Rolls Royce” is a smart businessman who knows how to count. This criminal, aged 32, was charged in early April in Paris, along with two men and two women for drug trafficking. All were remanded. This team is suspected of having organized and participated in the smuggling of cocaine between Brazil and the island of Reunion through the territory of Paris. “For at least five years, he was playing on the fact that this drug is worth twice as much in this department of the Indian Ocean”, explains a source close to the case.

It was February 2023 that detectives from the narcotics group of the third judicial district collected information about “Loko” or “Rolls Royce”. This 31-year-old man from the 12th arrondissement of Paris has been designated as the mastermind behind a major cocaine trade.

“150 euros per gram in Reunion against only 65 euros in the Paris region”

“He brings cocaine from Brazil where the kilo is worth 5,200 euros and transports it to the island of Reunion where users buy the gram for 150 euros against only 65 euros in the Paris region”, explains the informant.

Public servants are launching surveillance operations that are updating the deployment in Brazil and Reunion where his right hand is receiving the mules. The criminal relies on a second accomplice who lives in Paris (XII). His role is to recruit and accompany smugglers during the journey.

The police are working on their memories and understand that in a few cases, his employees have been arrested. Especially in 2019, in a Parisian hotel where a woman was surprised by 3.8 kg of drugs. In 2021, another smuggler was arrested at Orly airport (Val-de-Marne) with 10 kg of goods hidden in his suitcase. During the same year in Reunion, a team of three Parisian smugglers, ordered by Rolls Royce, are caught with money and drugs.

Arrest of 9 kilos of cocaine

At the end of March, the police received information that a drug trafficker had just taken the tickets of two people, from Brest (Finistère), who were going to travel to Brazil. On March 30, they returned via Roissy airport before fleeing in a taxi. The police arrested the two mules, the boss, his driver and his lieutenant in a hotel in Montévrain (Seine-et-Marne). Six loaves of one kilogram of cocaine were discovered in the jacket of the two girls.

A search carried out in the house of “Rolls Royce” in Chessy (Seine-et-Marne) allowed the agents to find three kilos of additional drugs and around 10,000 euros. “In Brazil, this represents an investment of less than 50,000 euros. But at the retail price in Reunion, this amount can bring 1.3 million euros, “decides a source close to the case. At the same time, a web reporter is arrested in this foreign department.

The five suspects have been placed under police custody in the police buildings of the Parisian court. During the hearing, the partners confessed, explaining that they had worked for “Loko” since 2018 and had to receive between 8,000 and 10,000 euros to transport the drugs. The boss and his assistant claim their innocence.