The gendarmerie seized 1.3 tonnes of cocaine, of an estimated market value at several tens of millions of euros, in a truck arriving from Spain on Sunday south of Bordeaux, announced the Bordeaux prosecutor’s office on Thursday.
The interception took place on the A63 motorway near Cestas (Gironde). The 36 -year -old Spanish driver was referred to be indicted, at the end of his police custody, before a magistrate of the specialized interregional jurisdiction (Jirs) of Bordeaux. The prosecution requested its placement in detention.
Judicial information is open to importing drugs into an organized gang and participation in an association of criminals, facts liable to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Bordeaux’s research section (SR) inquiry was initiated in early July by information on the involvement of the truck in drug trafficking, confirmed by suspicious journeys between Spain and northern Europe.
On August 10, informed of a new passage from the border, the investigators intercepted the heavy goods vehicle and discovered inside the dozens of bags hidden in wooden cases, containing a total of 1,345 kilos of cocaine.
The market value of drugs is estimated between 30 and 40 million euros for a resale in semi-Gros, the Colonelle Christelle Tarrolle told AFP, head of the National Investigation Unit (UNI) of the Gendarmerie.
“This new seizure confirms the already observed trend in the significant development of an import path of cocaine in Europe from southern Spain and Portugal,” said the public prosecutor in Bordeaux, Renaud Gaudeul, in a press release.
The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, praised “a record seizure” and an “exemplary operation” carried out in cooperation with the Spanish Civil Guardia.
The SR of Bordeaux, in Cosaisine with the Antisputants Office (OFAST), received the support of the UNI and the Central Criminal Intelligence Service. These two units will integrate, on September 1, the new National Unit of Judicial Police of the National Gendarmerie (UNPJ) dedicated to the fight against organized crime.
In 2024, cocaine seizures in France reached 53.5 tonnes, one level never reached (+130% compared to 2023), according to a note from the OFAST consulted by AFP. Intercepted maritime routes totaled 41.8 tonnes, or 78% of the seizures, including 14.4 tonnes at the only port of Le Havre (5.3 tonnes in 2023).
Relatively spared until 2020, France has become one of the most affected European countries, exceeding traditionally impacted countries (Belgium, Netherlands). The hardening of controls in the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam can explain a reorientation of traffic to the south of Europe, according to the same source.
And the trend continued in 2025: on May 1, the seizures amounted to 29.4 tonnes (+56% over a year), according to the note from the Antidrogue Office. Outside the seaway, the road border between Spain and France is particularly exposed, smugglers also taking the railway, less controlled.
Posted on August 14 at 5:57 p.m., AFP
