Romanian trucker jailed four years over 50 kg cannabis at Tavel
A 32-year-old Romanian lorry driver was jailed for four years and fined €270,000 after customs officers found 50 kilograms of cannabis hidden among vegetables in his truck at the Tavel rest area on 16 February 2023.
French customs officers arrested a 32-year-old Romanian lorry driver at the Tavel rest area on
16 February 2023 after a sniffer dog found 50 kilograms of cannabis hidden in a specially built
cache among his load of vegetables.[1][2]
The driver said it was his first time carrying anything illegal, while the prosecutor noted he
had driven the same truck for seven years and requested six years in prison with a permanent
ban from France.[1][2]
At an immediate hearing on Tuesday 21 February the court sentenced him to four years in prison,
a €270,000 customs fine instead of the €500,000 sought, and a ten-year ban from France.[1][2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
A 28-year-old driver tested positive for cannabis after rear-ending a car and injuring its driver at Percy-en-Normandie on 2 January 2026. The Coutances court sentenced him on 10 November 2026 to six months suspended imprisonment and cancelled his driving licence.
The criminal court in Troyes sentenced 47-year-old Ramzi Nefzaoui to 14 months in firm prison for drug trafficking and issued an arrest warrant. The case began when gendarmes stopped his Renault Laguna at Barberey-Saint-Sulpice in December 2025 and found cannabis resin, herb, cash and a scale.
The Fontainebleau criminal court sentenced a driver to five years in prison, including two years firm, over a fatal 2021 crash at Souppes-sur-Loing in which his 20-year-old passenger died. The court heard he had drunk alcohol and smoked cannabis and was driving at 135 km/h in a 30 km/h zone.
Anti-crime police in Passamaïnty, Mayotte, broke up a drug deal on 4 November 2026 and seized 3.334 kg of cannabis and 8,495 euros in cash from a suspected stash flat; three people were arrested. Two young men were tried in Mamoudzou on 9 November and sentenced to 30 months with 12 suspended and a 15-month suspended term.