Toulouse: the hookah tobacco smuggler goes to prison and owes 73,000 €
Arrested by the police in Toulouse, delegated to customs investigators, a man involved in the trafficking of hookah tobacco was sentenced to one year in prison by the criminal court. He will have to pay customs €73,840.
“I buy at Bagatelle. I don’t earn much,” tries Youssef, 30. Arrested by the anti-crime brigade in Toulouse last week, Saint-Cyprien district, “under conditions which, in law, would have deserved to be disputed”, warns Me Nabet-Claverie, his lawyer, this boy already involved in drug trafficking. cigarettes in 2020, one struggled to challenge the 30kg of hookah tobacco he was carrying. And again me the other 160 kilos found at his home.
“Plus €12,150 in cash and two Rolexes. Your business is going pretty well,” notes President Nicole Bergougnan. Youssef did not dare to complain about inflation and difficult times for trade, but he is keen on his “small” role, and his “small” profits.
Not enough to convince the prosecutor. “He has nothing to do with Arnaud-Bernard or certain markets. He has a residence permit, RSA. He could work but he made the choice of delinquency and trafficking. As an organizer, what shows his activity on social networks, and not as a small hand as he tries to pretend.” Prosecutor Vuelta-Simon requires twelve months in prison with continued detention, seizure of the money and the two watches, the destruction of the tobacco.
If she left aside the procedural error, Me Sarah Nabet-Claverie wants to avoid prison. “The prosecution explains to us that he is an organizer, a major trafficker. Perhaps. But where is the evidence? The investigations? The only investigation report is written by the anti-crime brigade. If we wanted to activate something , it was necessary to open an instruction. Customs, apart from weighing and reweighing, they did not look further, “argues the lawyer who becomes ironic: “Tobacco is not a prohibited product. for forgetting state taxes…”
The lawyer also cites these white-collar offenders, “whose faults are much more important,” and who “all avoid detention”. The judges, untroubled, sentenced Yousset to twelve months in prison. Plus €73,840 fine. The tobacco will be destroyed, the money and the Rolexes confiscated.