Alleged leader of crime organization based in the Netherlands is arrested in Paris
A special unit of the French police force has arrested an important leader of a criminal organization and drug trafficker based on a European arrest warrant issued by Dutch prosecutors. According to French media outlets, the man is Saïd A. The suspect has a Moroccan nationality.
The man was arrested without incident in a quick operation by plainclothes officers as he left a snack bar in the Barbès district, not far from Gare du Nord station.
According to French media outlets, including Le Parisien, the 35-year-old suspect is the leader of a large criminal organization that works from the Netherlands and Belgium and has close connections with criminals in Latin America.
He is accused of trafficking cocaine and manufacturing synthetic drugs. The suspect will soon be brought before the court in Paris and extradited to the Netherlands.
A spokeswoman for the Public Prosecution Service in the Netherlands confirmed the arrest. The Public Prosecution Service suspects the man of involvement in the import of methamphetamine into the Netherlands.
In April, the police found more than 100 kilos of methamphetamine in a car at a parking lot along the A58 near Gilze. Further investigation led the police to this suspect, according to the spokeswoman for the National Public Prosecution Service. A 33-year-old man from Tilburg had already been arrested at the parking lot along the highway.
Reporting by ANP