On the evening of 21 April 2025, several men held up a lorry driver at a service station in Vitrolles, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, and drove off with his heavy goods vehicle, which was loaded with cannabis resin.[1][2] The driver, who was returning from Spain, then contacted the police and the gendarmerie himself.[2]

Anonymous callers gave investigators details that let them trace the lorry and its cargo, and gendarmes of the Lyon research section found it in a warehouse near Lyon shortly after the hijacking.[1][3] The section put the Moroccan-registered vehicle under surveillance and spotted suspicious movements in an industrial area.[3]

On 22 April, the gendarmes seized 9,133 kg of cannabis resin, carefully packed in two sealed metal crates inside the vehicle and three already-unloaded crates, which the gendarmerie valued at €72 million for resale.[3] Two men were charged on 27 April, notably for drug trafficking and armed gang robbery.[3] Given the scale of the case, the Paris organised-crime prosecution office took it over and entrusted the investigation to the anti-narcotics office and the Lyon judicial police.[1]