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The nitrous oxide was encapsulated in bottles discovered in a hangar in the Paris region. This is the largest seizure of this gas ever in France.
Over-the-counter, laughing gas can be found in particular in the form of cartridges for whipped cream siphons.
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A record quantity of 7 tonnes of nitrous oxide, also called laughing gas, with a market value of 2.7 million euros were seized in December in Seine-et-Marne, the national police announced on Twitter on Monday. .
Encapsulated in bottles, the gas was discovered in a hangar in Noisiel (Seine-et-Marne), added a police source. This seizure is the largest ever in France, according to this source.
The investigation opened in September by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Lyon made it possible to put together an “international network for the resale of nitrous oxide” and to identify a storage location in Seine-et-Marne, the source said. Two people were arrested on December 9 at Le Bourget, including the head of the network, said the same source, confirming information from the newspaper “Le Monde”.
The investigation, entrusted to the departmental security of the Rhône, was opened in September for work concealed in an organized gang, street sales and sale or distribution of a product specifically intended to facilitate the extraction of nitrous oxide to obtain the results. psychoactive effects, had specified mid-October the prosecution. At the end of September, 4 tonnes had been seized in Villeurbanne, near Lyon, and several people arrested.
Popular with revelers and young people
Over the counter, laughing gas, which can be found in the form of cartridges for whipped cream siphons or in the medical sector for anesthetic purposes, is popular with party-goers and young people, who divert its use for its euphoric effect.
The consumption of nitrous oxide presents risks such as suffocation, loss of consciousness, burns but also, in the event of repeated use and / or in high doses, severe neurological, hematological, psychiatric and cardiac disorders, warns on its website the Interministerial Mission for the Fight against Drugs and Addictive Behaviors.
Since the 1is June 2021, a law prohibits “selling and distributing” this product “in order to obtain psychoactive effects”, under penalty of a fine of 3,750 euros.
(AFP)