French police make big cannabis hauls
More than nine tonnes of cannabis have been seized by authorities in France so far this year, due to more international coorperation according to specialists.
In the last four months 9,380kg of cannabis has been discovered by customs officers during vehicle raids, according to a study by AFP.
The latest raid was last weekend, when the air and border police (police de l’air et des frontiers) seized 658kg of cannabis from a car in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques area.
During the whole of last year 30.5 tonnes was seized in the country.
Specialists attribute this high level of discovery to “an increase in international cooperation and a better knowledge of the [drugs] network.”
Spain, one of the main countries for transit of drugs between Morocco and France, has been able to concentrate resources into organised crime since the Basque separatist organisation, ETA, announced an end to their violence.
Specialist also say custom officials have also improved their knowledge of drugs traffickers, and have been able to seize a lot of their assets over the past few years, including apartments and bank accounts.
As a result, the €65million confiscated has been sunk into the service.
There are about 1.2million regular smokers of cannabis in France, according to the the board for drugs and drug addiction (l'Observatoire français des drogues et des toxicomanies).
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