Gendarmes seize record 3.2 tonnes of cannabis resin near Dreux; 10 arrested
Gendarmes found 3.2 tonnes of cannabis resin on a farm at Sorel-Moussel in Eure-et-Loir, a record for the force, and arrested ten people, two of them at Roissy airport as they prepared to fly to Thailand. Seven of the ten were placed under formal investigation in Paris, as officers also seized weapons, 320,000 euros in cash and eight vehicles.
Gendarmes from the Orléans research section, the local gendarmerie group and
GIGN reinforcements found 3.2 tonnes of cannabis resin at a farm in
Sorel-Moussel, a small commune in Eure-et-Loir about 15 km from Dreux.[1]
Ten people were arrested: eight in Dreux and its suburbs, and two at Roissy
airport who were about to take a flight to Thailand.[2]Seven of the ten were
placed under formal investigation in Paris, including the head of the network.[2]
Investigators also seized 27 weapons, including automatic pistols, rifles,
submachine guns and rocket launchers, 320,000 euros in cash and eight vehicles.[2]Police said the network brought the resin from Morocco by boat to Spain and
moved it north in convoys of powerful cars registered in Germany or Belgium,
hiding it at the Sorel-Moussel farm.[1]
An investigator said the network moved up to a tonne per trip, and a ledger
found in the searches suggested it had convoyed 48 tonnes of resin since
September 2008, worth 250 million euros.[1]The operation was carried out by
about 100 gendarmes from the Orléans research section, the Eure-et-Loir
departmental gendarmerie and the GIGN, at the arrival of a go-fast convoy, a
French term for a convoy of several powerful cars carrying drugs at speed.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
10
Charged
7
Cannabis
3.2 t
Vehicles confiscated
8
Cash confiscated
EUR 320,000
Agencies
Gendarmerie nationale; GIGN; Section de recherches d'Orléans
Le Parisien says the discovery took place 'jeudi dernier' (last Thursday) and was published on Tuesday 23 February 2010, so 18 February 2010 is used; 20 Minutes also dates the operation to Thursday morning.
The material is described as cannabis and cannabis resin; the resin form is used because 20 Minutes, franceinfo and Le Figaro all specify résine.
Le Parisien gives a 320,000 euro cash seizure, while Le Figaro reported 300,000 euros.
Le Parisien gives 48 tonnes of resin convoyed since September 2008 and 250 million euros of merchandise from a seized ledger, while 20 Minutes cites the investigation's estimate of about 50 tonnes since September 2008; the ledger figures are given in the text only.
Le Parisien reports nine further arrests around Dreux and at Roissy airport besides the woman found with the resin; 20 Minutes gives ten arrests in total, which is used.
No court outcome of the case is reported in these accounts.
The 27 weapons seized are not cannabis figures and stay in the text only.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in 20 Minutes: Officers valued the consignment at 15 million euros.
Left out agency types, as its quotation was not found in 20 Minutes.
Left out value, as its quotation was not found in 20 Minutes.
Customs officers seized 40 kg of cannabis products from a Spanish UPS truck at the Fontaine toll on the A36 on 9 November 2026. Two Spain-based delivery drivers, aged 36 and 46, were detained after admitting they acted as “mules” for a load collected in Madrid.
Police seized about 100 kilos of drugs, mainly cannabis with some cocaine, from a nourrice stash flat supplying deal points in Vénissieux's Joliot-Curie sector. The reports give only a combined weight, so no cannabis-only quantity can be recorded.
Six people were taken into custody after searches across Corrèze and Saône-et-Loire linked to the Kannathera CBD chain; police seized 444.1 kg of cannabis, 190.2 kg of it resin. The Brive prosecutor's office said four suspects were placed under judicial supervision pending trial and two others were summoned to court.
On 3 November 2026 a Paris court ended a mother's social-housing lease after several kilos of cannabis and cash were found in her son's bedroom, put at 6.5 kg. The court accepted she paid rent, had no neighbour complaints and knew nothing of her son's activity.
