The French court ordered pre-trial detention for 11 of the 12 suspects on suspicion of drug trafficking with Latin AmericaA judicial source reports this to AFP on Monday.

“Eleven were placed in pre-trial detention, including a customs officer, while the twelfth received judicial review,” this source said. The case, revealed by the newspaper Le Parisien, focuses on an alleged traffic between Mexico and the south of Paris.

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The suspects are accused of importing drugs into an organized gangdrug trafficking, money laundering in an organized gang, association of criminals, corruption and weapons crimes, according to the source.

Investigators arrested thirteen people on Wednesday in the conflicted district of “Grande-Borne”, is about 20 kilometers south of Paris, according to a source close to the investigation.

The police seized “70 kilograms of cocaine and weapons” andn this operation that required “two years of work”, he added. The network could get “Up to 400,000 euros [427.000 dólares] of weekly benefits”, specified this source.

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Three brothers controlled and allegedly enriched themselves from this traffic, getting assets in Dubai, he stressed.

Among the thirteen arrested were a customs officer at Roissy airportnorth of Paris, and an employee of the SNCF train company.

The former was said to have been paid $48,000 per suitcase from Mexico and for “closing his eyes,” the source explained. “Each suitcase contained between 40 and 60 kilos of cocaine” and their frequency was one or two a week.

France seized about 156.7 tons of drugs in 2022, a “historic” level, including 27 tons of cocaine. 17.1% of seized cocaine uses the air route and 75.4% the sea.