4.5 kg of heroin and 1,450 kg of cocaine in a rented box in Nîmes, three men sentenced

My Abdelghani Merah and Baptiste Scherrer defended two of the three defendants. Midi Libre – C.R.

Drugs – heroin and cocaine – was stored in two storage units rented by a man from Nîmes. Three men were sentenced this Thursday March 28 by the Nîmes criminal court.

Mohamed Bouarfa, already convicted in a drug case dating back a few years, had rented, in his name, two storage units in furniture storage in Nîmes.

This is information that led Montpellier customs officers, this May 2, 2022, to these two addresses. During the search on the first site, Chemin de la Serre, customs officers discovered a significant quantity of heroin (4.95 kg) and cocaine (1,450 kg). They seized latex gloves, scales and, more surprisingly, 30 bulletproof vests. In the second site, impasse de la Via-Gallo, they will discover eight strips of cannabis resin.

They worked in fiber optics

And on May 10, 2022, at the beginning of the afternoon, two young people, Jawad F., dressed from head to toe in the colors of OM and Salim E.O. arrived on the furniture storage site, chemin de la Serre. Mandated by Mohamed Bouarfa, they tried, without success, to open the box. But the access code has been changed. The two suspects will turn around.

These three men – Mohamed B., Jawad F and Salim E.O were tried this Thursday by the Nîmes criminal court. They were accused of acquisition, offer or transfer, transport, possession and importation of drugs and for participation in a criminal association. Two of them were, almost, first-time offenders!

Mohamed B, the tenant of these two boxes was defended by Me Nancy Gasnon. " I was forced to keep drugs for a debt , the defendant defends. In 2021, assures this Nîmes man, aged 36, he would have been taken by force, into the scrubland, molested. And drug traffickers allegedly forced him to work for them. " I had no choice. I rented the box for my professional activity… hellip; I'm the clerk in this story."

The investigators traced the journeys of his three men towards the north of France, Belgium, Luxembourg or towards Spain. " I made two or three trips, says Jawad F., defended by Me Baptiste Scherrer. For small amounts, 200 or 300  €. And to go see prostitutes in the windows of Brussels. Because it’s free. I had never been to Belgium. Mohamed was my former neighbor. We work in fiber. He was the one who trained me."

The prosecutor, Willy Lubin, requested sentences ranging from 12 years in prison against Mohamed B., the tenant of the two boxes, 5 years in prison for Jawad and 6 years for Salim . "Six years ! This is completely disconnected from reality, protests Me Abdelghani Merah, Salim’s lawyer. < em>He is a first time offender and his first incarceration. His father offers to take him in. He has a partner and already a promise of employment."

Mohamed Bouarfa is sentenced to 12 years in prison with a two-thirds security period. Salim and Jawad are sentenced to 5 years in prison.