296 booze in the car
The parents were arrested by customs in Kanfen, just after the Luxembourg border, in November 2020. The Mercedes was carrying 34 boxes filled with bottles of alcohol. Their son was caught in the process driving a BMW, with 24 boxes on board. The Sri Lankan family lives in the Paris region. She has no proof of this purchase. The seizure totaled 296 l: 176 l of whiskey, 90 l of vodka, 30 l of pastis.
The three defendants were summoned before the Thionville Criminal Court on Tuesday, January 25, for the regular possession of alcohol, the smuggling of imports. The son was absent for personal reasons, but both parents made the trip. Through the voice of their interpreter, they explain that they bought these provisions for a party. “A big party then”, slips the president of the court.
It has not escaped the members of this family that the bottles are much cheaper in Luxembourg. Moreover, this is not the first time that they have performed there to stock up. To believe that they like to party.
Prison and salty fine
They were already arrested in February 2020. The authorities have already confiscated 586 l from them, before the arrest in Kanfen in November. And again in 2021, the Soissons court sentenced them for the illegal transport of 460 liters of alcohol. Customs are aware of the existence of traffic dedicated to grocery sales.
At the bar of the Thionville court, the mother repeats that she does not know the reason for the trip, she followed her husband to talk to him. The father would have given a logistical helping hand, requested by his son. The latter, aged 26, is already known to the courts for acts of theft and violence.
The Thionvillois magistrates condemn the whole family. The parents each received a four-month suspended prison sentence. The son takes four months firm. The three will have to pay, jointly and severally, a customs fine of 15,000 euros. An amount required by the administration, which corresponds to one and a half times the market value of the bottles of alcohol sold on French territory.