Former French robber Jean-Claude Pautot, who became a painter and actor, was arrested at the end of December off the Azores on a sailboat carrying 740 kg of cocaine, a Spanish source close to the investigation told AFP on Monday.
“During his arrest, Jean-Claude Pautot was on a sailboat loaded with 740 kilos of cocaine” sailing “in international waters” at “150 nautical miles” from the Portuguese archipelago, she said.
This source confirmed information from the Journal du Dimanche
A former figure of organized crime, the sexagenarian was placed under judicial supervision in the Spanish province of Cadiz (south).
After decades of robberies, prison and on the run, Jean-Claude Pautot had settled down, becoming an artist-painter and co-writing the comic book “Face au Mur”, a fiction directly inspired by his life.
Also an actor, he climbed the steps at the last Cannes Film Festival for the film “The Innocent” by Louis Garrel in which he played a supporting role.
AFP
According to the Spanish source, nine other people – French, Spaniards and Moroccans – have been arrested in connection with this investigation, which is still ongoing.
According to the JDD, the sailboat had left Martinique and arrests also took place in France, where an additional 390 kilos of cocaine were seized as part of this operation carried out jointly by the French and Spanish authorities.
