Drugs Hauls, Revenge and Crime Rings: Cases Pile up Before the Courts

Spectacular Drugs Haul Unearthed Near la Turbie

Have you ever wondered what is the result of customs checks on the autoroute? You see the police and customs agents often at tollgates on the motorway – even though we are within the Schengen zone where frontiers are generally open. The answer is that there is a lot of smuggling going on still. France is a conduit for smuggled goods between Spain and Italy. Drugs that arrive in Spain are then trucked across the French and Italian borders. The quarantine closed frontiers for a while which disrupted the distribution by road. Frontiers opening again has facilitated not just tourism but crime. Customs agents checking trucks near la Turbie discovered an exceptional haul of cannabis resin hidden under sacks of soil and plants. The discovery amounted to over 400 kilograms of illegal drugs. The lorry driver was arrested. To-date he has not given an explanation of how this illegal load was stored among the goods in his truck. The customs fine alone may be as spectacular as the discovery – somewhere being 500.000 and a million euros. And of course criminal proceedings will follow in the Courts in Nice.

A Vengeful Spending Spree at a Monaco Company’s Expense After Being Fired

It can be traumatic experience losing your job. Enough of a trauma that anger and a desire for revenge can be part of the psychological process that accompanies the trauma. Best to seek counselling and not act out the desire for revenge – particularly if it is something clearly illegal.

Unfortunately, a police arrest had to be made based on a complaint by a Monaco company who had severed an employee only to discover she had absconded with a company credit card. And then gone on a spending spree. In this case, the alleged crime amounted to the fired employee indulging herself with purchases of clothes and a trip amounting to thousands of euros. Indeed the total shopping expedition amounted to an alleged unauthorized set of gifts to herself totalling tens of thousands of euros. The result – in addition to having to deal with being fired she will face a second trauma of a criminal court case. This after the undoubted shock of finding herself arrested!

Organised Crime Rings Are After Your Credit Cards

The Dark Web enables thieves who steal credit cards to find the identities and details of the owners. This enables the criminals and their associates to successfully attempt to use a number of these stolen cards. And thus a middle-eastern man in Monaco was able to shop in fine boutiques using stolen cards to pay for his luxury purchases. Except he raised suspicions when his attempts to use cards at the stores resulted in an unusual number of rejections. And one high profile purchase resulted in the bank processing the pending expensive transaction notifying the real owner of the credit card – who immediately objected. Monaco police were alerted and using CCTV managed to intercept and arrest the alleged criminal at Monaco station. Even after a month in detention, the criminal never gave away his co-conspirators while awaiting trial. He had to be released for emergency medical treatment and was hospitalized. Thus he was a “no-show” at his court case. The evidence was sufficient to conclude he was using stolen credit cards – though the criminal ring operating behind the scenes remain hidden from the law. The defence did raise the hospitalization to try to lesson the punishment which the judge set at 6 months suspended prison time, with one month firm – though this had already been served in detention.