The Saint-Denis criminal court found all twelve defendants guilty of trafficking cannabis between Réunion and Mauritius and sentenced them at the end of a two-day hearing on 12 June 2026.[1] Bertrand de Boisvilliers, former chief of staff to the Sainte-Suzanne mayor Maurice Gironcel and owner of the boat l’Abyss, was sentenced to four years in prison with a committal warrant, a 10,000 euro fine, the confiscation of his boat and vehicle, and a permanent ban on public employment.[2] The court gave him less than the seven years the prosecution had sought against him.[2]

Guito Louise, described as one of the network’s other pillars, was sentenced to four years in prison with a committal warrant and a 10,000 euro fine.[2] Gaëtan Petitdemange drew the same four years with a committal warrant and a 10,000 euro fine.[2] Laurent Mariaye, whom investigators considered another important figure in the case, drew the heaviest term of five years in prison with a committal warrant and a 10,000 euro fine.[2] The other defendants received lighter terms: Clency Marie three years with one year suspended, and Saunkow and Ho Yeu three years each with two years suspended and on probation.[2] Le Quotidien reported that the eight lesser defendants received sentences ranging from three years to one year, some with probation.[1]

De Boisvilliers admitted his involvement, said he had acted out of greed and carelessness, apologised to his family and former colleagues, and acknowledged using his fishing boat to transfer cannabis to Mauritian vessels off Réunion.[2] Investigators seized 147 kg of zamal, the Réunion Creole word for cannabis, aboard l’Abyss when the former chief of staff was arrested.[2][3][4] The network, dismantled after nearly two years of investigation, was suspected of exporting several hundred kilos of Réunion cannabis to Mauritius, where it resells for several times its Réunion price.[2] Le Quotidien reported that Laurent Mariaye was a repeat offender for identical offences in 2017, in the case of the Mauritian trafficker known as Franklin.[1]

Mauritius, described as Réunion’s sister island, lies 230 km to the east.[3]

Late in the afternoon of Thursday 3 April, gendarmes of the Réunion research section and the local OFAST branch caught two suspects in the act in the port of Sainte-Marie aboard the deep-sea fishing boat L’Abyss after they had loaded 147 kg of zamal.[4] The two men were about to leave for the island of Mauritius, 230 km east of Réunion.[4] One of them was Bertrand De Boisvilliers, who until his arrest served as chief of staff to the mayor of Sainte-Suzanne, Maurice Gironcel, a leader of the PCR.[4]