Overview
- François Thierry, the former head of France’s narcotics office, was given a one-year suspended sentence on Tuesday for complicity in drug trafficking.
- The court convicted Thierry despite the prosecutor’s call for his acquittal, which followed a month of hearings.
- Sophiane Hambli, detained in Morocco and tried in absentia, received 20 years in prison with a two‑thirds minimum term after judges identified him as the organizer.
- The case stems from customs officers finding cannabis in several vans on Paris’s Boulevard Exelmans in October 2015 during a police “monitored delivery.”
- The investigation filled 70 volumes, involved 15 other defendants, and prompted customs to seek €33 million in penalties from nine accused as the affair pushed reforms to anti-drug operations.