Dozens of kilos of cannabis and another of cocaine were found at the home of the mayor of Avallon, in Yonne, on April 7. The city councilor and two of his brothers were placed in police custody.
Drugs found at the home of the mayor of Avallon. At least 70 kilos of cannabis resin were discovered on Sunday, April 7, at the home of the councilor of the small town of Yonne, Jamilah Habsaoui, during an “XXL net square” operation, reported BFMTV. The police also got their hands on a kilo of cocaine, a gold ingot and 7,000 euros in cash, according to the Auxerre public prosecutor. franceinfo.
After this discovery, the mayor of Avallon who is also regional councilor of Burgundy-Franche-Comté was arrested and placed in police custody. In total, seven people were arrested, including two of the councilor’s brothers already known to the police for drug-related cases. It was also one of these brothers who was targeted by the anti-drug operation. The latter would have stored the goods with the mayor of Avallon, with whom he lives, without the latter being aware according to France 3. The investigation must determine whether Jamilah Habsaoui was informed of the presence of drugs in an outbuilding in her house.
An operation prepared for “several weeks”
Elected in 2021 as head of Avallon town hall after having long been first deputy of this town of 6,800 inhabitants, Jamilah Habsaoui is also a pharmacy technician in parallel with her mandate. Thus, a second search, this time at his workplace, was carried out in the middle of the afternoon by investigators, reveals Le Figaro.
To understand how such a seizure could have been carried out, a source close to the file told our colleagues at Figaro that an investigation had previously taken place. “To search the home of an elected official, there must be tickets,” she explained. The Auxerre prosecutor agreed, ensuring that “this operation was well prepared in advance by the investigators” who “have been working on this case for several weeks”. The magistrate also specified that police custody can be extended up to 96 hours in drug cases.
During the operation, other homes in addition to that of the mayor of Avallon were targeted. 75 gendarmes from the Gendarmerie Research Brigade and the Avallon Gendarmerie Surveillance and Intervention Platoon were mobilized, with sniffer dogs and reinforcements from the Dijon search section. This action is a continuation of others carried out in recent weeks as part of the “XXL square net” operation aimed at stemming drug trafficking in the territory. Since March 18, these actions which took place in Lille, Lyon, Marseille and Clermont-Ferrand have led to the arrest of at least 1,738 people, the seizure of 150 kilos of drugs and 2.4 million euros. .