13 held as Moroccan cannabis cash turned into gold for India
French police arrested 13 people in Paris and Belgium for a network that sold Moroccan cannabis in France and laundered the proceeds into gold sent via Dubai to India. The alleged Paris leader admitted laundering 36 million euros since 2010, put at 200 kg of gold, in what investigators called one of France's biggest money-laundering cases.
French police broke up a trafficking network that turned cannabis from Morocco
sold in France into gold resold in India.[1]Ten people were arrested in Paris
and three others in Belgium.[2]At its centre was Sayed, a 32-year-old Indian
man who lived an unremarkable life with a child in a modest flat in Tremblay,
north of Paris.[1]Behind closed doors he allegedly ran companies based in
France, Morocco, Dubai, Belgium and India that collected and laundelled the drug
money.[1]
The proceeds were sent to Belgium and converted into gold bracelets or fine gold
powder mixed into ground coffee.[1]Accomplices then recruited students as
couriers to carry the gold on express weekend trips to Dubai.[1]In Dubai the
gold was made into jewellery and sent to India for sale, with the profits shared
between the French and Indian launderers and a Moroccan organiser.[2]
The 32-year-old Indian man who led the organisation in Paris admitted laundering36 million euros since 2010 and sending 200 kg of gold from Belgium to India.[2]In custody Sayed admitted four years of illegal activity amounting to 200
kg of gold sent to the Indian market, worth 25 million euros in cash.[1]The
network as a whole was said to collect about 170 million euros per year.[2]Investigators described it as one of the biggest money-laundering operations
ever uncovered in France.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
13
Value (official estimate)
EUR 36,000,000
Agency
French police
Agency type
Police
Case stage
Under investigation
Region
Île-de-France
Date
Approximate
Sources
RFIrfi.frFRDe l’or en barrettes pour un trafiquant indien arrêté à Paris - RFI
RFIrfi.frFrance busts international cannabis money-laundering network
Open questions the AI reported
The arrests were reported only as happening on the Monday before the 14 March announcement, so 10 March 2014 is used as the incident date.
The Belgian arrest locations were not named.
No weight of cannabis seized was published, so no cannabis quantity is recorded.
The French account values the 200 kg of gold at 25 million euros in cash while the English account reports 36 million euros laundered since 2010.
The full names of the suspects, the charges and any court outcome were not reported.
No second independent outlet account was found; the two cited items are the French and English versions of the same RFI reporting.
The text gives a weight ("200 kg") but the figures have no kg_seized; check whether it belongs there.
Anti-crime squad officers arrested three men selling cocaine and cannabis resin from Marseille streets on Sunday 8 November 2026, two in the 11th arrondissement and one in the 15th. Two officers were injured overpowering the third man, and all three were taken into police custody.
A 24-year-old man was arrested in Montpellier's Saint-Martin neighbourhood on 8 November 2026 after offering to sell cannabis to an undercover anti-crime (BAC) officer, and three officers were needed to detain him when he bit one of them. Officers found 21 g of cannabis, a small amount of cocaine and cash nearby, and he is due in court on 10 November.
Police in Le Mans stopped a 22-year-old riding an electric scooter at high speed on the pavement on 8 November 2026 after he refused to stop, then found a substance that appeared to be cannabis resin on him. He was held in custody and is to be summoned in June 2027 under a fixed-penalty court order providing for 70 hours of unpaid work.
Police in Draguignan arrested one adult and two minors after finding nearly 2.5 kg of cannabis resin disguised as Dubai chocolate bars in their car. One of the three, who was to deliver the drugs, was referred to the prosecutor and placed under judicial supervision pending trial.
