Drug trafficking between Albi and Toulouse via Snapchat messaging: 5 years in prison for the “manager” of the network
Fifteen defendants were tried by the Albi court for drug trafficking. A long investigation had brought to light a well-organized structure on the internet via Snapchat messaging, a “company” with operators, delivery men, managers … who operated between Albi and Toulouse
It is a large-scale trial which was held for two days at the Albi judicial court. 15 defendants, almost as many lawyers, and a vast drug trafficking dismantled by the police, after months of investigation. Traffic 2.0, “new generation”, which makes the job of investigators even more difficult. Delivery men, operators and project managers have replaced the usual lookouts and deal point managers.
Everything happens on the internet and by phone. The are done on the Snapchat social network, the operators order the delivery men where to go, the nannies store the goods. And above this small “company”, a duo of brothers, the managers. From the little nanny to the managers, all gathered for two days at the Albi courthouse. A man nicknamed “the couz”, above this set, has sometimes been mentioned without looking for more on this enigmatic boss. Only that it was he who passed the network on to the two managers, to take a step back after various legal disputes. While keeping a close eye on the network.
Snowball effect
This investigation which brought to light this network begins as often by the greatest of luck. Albi police officers control a young woman in the wrong way in the center of the city. A strong smell of cannabis emanates from his car. She is arrested, her car searched. Several hundred euros, sachets of drugs are discovered. This first arrest will have a snowball effect.
The young woman explains that she is not from the area, she is staying with her cousin. Besides, it was her car that she was driving. The search of the cousin’s home will uncover other small amounts of drugs and prepaid phones. Investigators continue to pull the thread. While searching a little more, the police raided another apartment in which they found a shoebox containing 4,000 ecstasy pills. The investigation will then take even more scope. Police officers issue several suspects under surveillance.
“New mode of drug trafficking”
By dint of surveillance and listening, several members of the network are identified. They operate in Albi and Toulouse, some live in the Gard. Several round trips to Spain are brought to light by the investigation for supplies. In November 2020, the police simultaneously question the entire team. Cocaine, cannabis, speed, ecstasy, MDMA, ketamine etc, the tally sheets are seized. Four members of the group were still in pre-trial detention on Monday. The “little hands” appeared free after several months spent behind bars.
“I am not here to ask for your mercy. I know why I am in prison. I am here to ask forgiveness from my co-authors, from their families. If he had not known me, if they had not crossed my path, they should not have been there ”. It is one of the two managers who speaks, the big brother, the head of the network.
The 15 defendants know each other more or less well. They live in the same universe. They met at a festival or a rave party. Obtaining a confession was not difficult, everyone declared their involvement without batting an eyelid. Although according to the survey, the traffic could generate nearly 50,000 € in 14 days, we are far from seasoned dealers, from “traffic in building halls and settling accounts”. The prosecutor sees in it “a new mode of drug trafficking, which adapts to the new mode of vacuum, discreet and efficient which makes investigative work complex”.
The respective pleadings of the thirteen lawyers are similar. They all insist on their client’s efforts to reintegrate, on their criminal record, or almost nothing, on their confessions. “There is no criminal dangerousness of these young people”; “There is no violence in this file”; “We are far from the Toulouse or Bordeaux cases with much larger quantities of drugs” insist the lawyers of the defendants.
“We wanted to take into account a choice in this case, such as your efforts to recognize the facts, this shows your capacity to insert yourself”, the president of the tribunal concluded. The head of the network receives 5 years in prison, 40 months for the co-manager and his right-hand man. The other defendants will be sentenced to terms ranging from 8 to 26 months in prison, most of which can be adapted.