Overview
- Three consolidated cases opened before the Lille specialized court cover seizures totaling more than two tonnes of cocaine routed through Le Havre.
- Bouguettaia, 38, previously convicted in absentia between 2022 and 2024, is being retried after his June extradition from Dubai and he contests the testimonies against him.
- Investigators say he used encrypted messaging to offer substantial money for a witness to retract, a claim tied to a 141‑kg seizure from February 2019 where an identification was later withdrawn.
- Prosecutors describe drugs hidden in legitimate cargo such as beef gelatin, wood planks, and vacuum‑packed tuna from Ecuador, with alleged links to distribution networks in the Netherlands and Antwerp.
- Security was tightened with equipment checks and instructions not to publish names of magistrates or lawyers, while a separate Paris case has him under formal investigation over a 2.5‑ton shipment from Colombia.