Romanian truck driver fined $29 mn over French cocaine haul

Romanian truck driver fined $29 mn over French cocaine haul
by AFP Staff Writers
Lille, France (AFP) April 10, 2025

A French court on Thursday ordered a Romanian truck driver to pay a 28.8 million euro ($29 million) fine and sent him to jail for 10 years after finding 438 kilograms of cocaine in his vehicle, prosecutors said.

The case is the latest to be dealt with in France where record amounts of cocaine have flooded the country, with Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau saying France faces a "white tsunami".

In 2024, French law enforcement seized 53.5 tonnes of cocaine, up 130 percent compared with 2023 (23 tonnes), interior ministry data shows.

Custom officers had to use an industrial grinder to cut through the rear wall of the truck in February to find the hidden bricks of cocaine, prosecutors said. The size of the fine imposed by a court in the northern town of Cambrai was based on the value of the drug.

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