In France, 350 kilograms of cocaine disappeared from police custody, and five officers have been arrested
French police searched the office of a deputy prosecutor in Marseille last week as part of an inquiry into the disappearance of 350 kilograms of seized cocaine from the city’s anti-narcotics office (Ofast), France Info reported Wednesday.
A Paris investigating judge led the search, joined by officers from the General Inspectorate of the National Police. Investigators have been probing the case since February 2023 and have already arrested five Marseille police officers, including two commissioners who headed the local Ofast branch.
The Marseille prosecutor’s office confirmed to OCCRP that the investigation is ongoing and “is being handled by the Paris prosecutor’s office,” according to Chloé Triomphe, communications officer for the Marseille public prosecutor.
The cocaine, originally from Colombia, was part of a sting operation aimed at luring one of France’s top drug traffickers, known as “Mimo,” who has been wanted since 2018. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had alerted Marseille police to the shipment’s arrival at the Port of Marseille in March 2023, allowing French authorities to track it from departure to seizure. When Mimo did not go through with the sting, police seized the shipment—which later disappeared from custody.
Irina Balakireva