“He's a simple dealer”: after an “exceptional” seizure of cocaine, an Alès resident sentenced to three years in prison

The prosecution is requesting a five-year prison sentence, with a suspended sentence. Midi Libre – ALEXIS BETHUNE

20,000 euros in cash, nearly 1 kg of white powder and a shotgun were seized. The defendant appeared this Thursday, July 25, at the criminal court of the Cévennes capital. 

On Sunday evening, in the Clavières district of Alès, officers from the anti-crime squad (BAC) made two arrests. One of a consumer who had come to collect a bale of cocaine, and the other of his supposed dealer. The police searched the dealer's home. The discovery was unprecedented. At the home of this 33-year-old man, nearly 1 kg of cocaine, more than 20,000 euros in cash, divided into bundles, and a shotgun were seized.“But also seven precision scales, a pestle and a spoon covered in cocaine, ammunition, a dozen boxes of shoes and other designer clothes […] It's not every day that you come across this", lists the president of the hearing at the Alès criminal court this Thursday, where the thirty-year-old is appearing.

Looking terrified, almost candid, the defendant, behind his window, admits the facts. It is the duration of the trafficking and its circumstances that remain unclear. Evasive in his answers, he says he acts alone, having sold "surely more" than two kilos of cocaine, at 30 &euros for half a gram, and 50 &euros for a gram. "When did you acquire it ?", asks the court. "A month or two ago…", the man hesitates, explaining that he is replenishing his stock with a supplier he met through acquaintances.

He would have recovered the cocaine already ready to be consumed, in 0.5 or 1 gram balloons, and on credit. “I was a little bit reckless though… My mind was completely elsewhere, added the defendant, referring to his personal consumption of narcotics. I was at an impasse, I had planned to open a grocery store with this money." Now, it is a sum of 60,000 euros; that he must reimburse a supplier whose name he will not name, “for fear of reprisals.”

A “simple” dealer

As for the weapon found at his home, he remains evasive:“In these activities, it is better to have something to defend yourself with so you can sleep soundly.” In defense, Me Saphia Foughar refutes the theory of belonging to a traffic. “He does alone what you do in a ten-person drug dealing spot. He is a lone wolf,” she describes,” she uses the example of an “account sheet,” found at the arrested person's home. Despite a long criminal record, including a prison sentence for similar acts, describes the defendant's "non-violent"  character, but also his clumsiness: for his sales, he drove a car rented in his name. "He's a bungler, a simple-minded dealer", concludes Mr. Foughar.