A 19-year old drug trafficker was sentenced Friday to 20 months imprisonment for orchestrating drone deliveries for several weeks at the Sequedin Remand Center, near Lille (North). In an immediate appearance, the Lille court sentenced an inmate who was also a drug trafficker and admitted to having retrieved one of the packages through the window of his cell. The grid was damaged.
After being alerted to the delivery of small packages by drones at night, the judicial police had deployed police three nights in succession in the area in late June. The judicial police was alerted to the delivery of five parcels. She also seized three other parcels, all wrapped in cellophane and enclosed by a net. According to the prosecution, the police also intercepted a drone. This was a “first in the Lille court’s jurisdiction”.
These packages contained chargers, headphones and headphones, as well as cannabis grass and resin lighters, cigarette leaves and cigarette leaves. They also included cosmetics and an 8 cm hacksaw piece. The 19-year-old man who was the co-pilot of the drone was arrested immediately. He had been convicted of drug trafficking in May by the juvenile court.
He told the hearing that he was tasked with sending “missiles”, first “old-fashioned” by throwing packages over the perimeter wall and then, in recent weeks, using a drone. He said that he had no choice but to explain that he was in debt after the 2020 seizure of hundreds of grams of heroin and cocaine. He refused to reveal the name of the supplier or that of his co-pilot who fled across the field.
He was also charged with trafficking in heroin, cannabis and cocaine. His sentence included 18 months imprisonment, as well as two additional months for a partial revocation his previous conviction. He was charged with trafficking in heroin, cannabis, and cocaine and was sentenced to three years imprisonment and a fine amounting to 5,000 euros.
According to the Lille prosecutor’s Office, Sequedin is a prison where several dozen packages are secretly launched each month. The “projected” quantities have soared. 8 kilos of narcotics, nearly double the amount seized in the entire 2021, were seized during the first quarter 2022. This trend is also confirmed elsewhere. The prosecution stated that it had organized “night operation (…) close to each Penitentiary Center”.
