Sofiane Boukhedimi, 38, already sentenced in the past, was arrested after the seizure, in September, of more than 200 kg of cocaine in a container on the port of Le Havre.
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Sofiane Boukhedimi, 38, from Clichy (Hauts-de-Seine) and nicknamed the “Mozart of drug trafficking”, was arrested on October 19 by police officers from the Anti-Stupester Office (OFAST), As part of a current survey on a cocaine import network in France. This arrest follows the seizure, in September, by customs officials, of more than 200 kg of cocaine in a container on the port of Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), which has become in recent years the main gateway to this drugs on French territory.
Two other men suspected of being part of the trafficking team had already been arrested in September. A judicial information led by the specialized interregional jurisdiction of Paris had been opened in stride, and the two men indicted and then placed in pre -trial detention. Presented to an investigating judge on October 21, Sofiane Boukhedimi was also indicted for “import, transport and detention” of narcotics as well as for several customs crimes. He was placed in pre-trial detention.
Sofiane Boukhedimi had won his nickname in a previous case that dates back to 2011, in which he had been sentenced to ten years in prison. Forty defendants had been tried in Marseille for their participation, in 2007 and 2008, in a drug trafficking network acting in France, Spain, Morocco and Algeria. Presented then as one of the leaders of this network, Sofiane Boukhedimi had been nicknamed the “Mozart of drug trafficking” by the prosecutor, who had stressed that he had continued to participate in the traffic while he found in detention. His friend, Ahmed Kheloufi, an Algerian then aged 46, had been sentenced to thirteen years in prison and to a final ban on French territory.