The six boxes were discovered in a rental car during a customs check on the A1 motorway at the Chamant toll (Oise), on October 7 around 12:40 a.m., said the prosecutor, Loïc Abrial.
The driver, a 23-year-old man, unknown to justice, was indicted and imprisoned, according to the same source. He denied having knowledge of the contents of the boxes, entrusted according to him by a friend.
“This is a file that is out of the ordinary,” said Mr. Abrial during a press conference. “This is a record seizure”, and yet, “the goods were not concealed but simply placed inside the passenger compartment”.
“We have very few files concerning” ketamine, an anesthetic with psychedelic effects increasingly used as a drug, confirmed Sébastien Chalvet, head of the Creil judicial police department.
The drugs seized were “probably intended for the Paris region and the national market”, added Mr. Chalvet, recalling that the Oise was a “transit zone” between Belgium and the Paris region.
The A1 is a “particularly sensitive” axis in terms of narcotics, underlined the regional director of customs in Amiens, Michaël Lachaux.
Already on September 12, 79 kg of cocaine had been seized at the Longueil-Sainte-Marie (Oise) toll gate, recalled the prosecutor.
After Friday’s seizure, a judicial investigation was opened for “unauthorized import, transport, and possession of narcotics”. The investigation was entrusted to the judicial police of Creil.
In 2021, French customs intercepted 115 tons of drugs including 18 tons of cocaine on French territory, the customs said.
