In the South of France, lying on the Mediterranean Sea, Marseille is known as France’s gateway to North Africa. In this city, between the 20th and the 22nd of November, 14 persons were judged at the criminal court for what was announced to be “the largest network of identified tobacco traffickers operating on the port of Marseille.” Last year, they were caught for transferring up to 7,500 cartons of cigarettes a month from Algeria to France.
The sound of chains comes from the right as the four detainees enter the 6th room of the Criminal court of Marseille. The other ten defendents, which are not in prison, are sitting in a half-circle, under the stare of Marianne, a symbol of France. On their third day of trial, at 18.30 on Wednesday the 22nd of November, the tired faces are waiting for the crucial moment. Four notes ring, everyone stands, Mrs Mée, the President, comes in and announces: “The tribunal will render its judgement.”
3 years of detention with 1 suspension for Mostefa Benmimoun, the coordinator of the cigarette trafficking network, and for Kamel Belkadi, his right arm. Cigarette keeper Abed Adda Benziane gets three years with 18 months suspension. Reseller Mamaar Abed, alias Anis, and Hafid Lefgoum, the duty-free shopkeeper on the boat that was providing the crew, were both sentenced to 2 years. Nouar Fatnassi, the driver, aka the “fraudster”, received 1 year. Mahedi Hadjou, an occasional driver who guarded the cigarettes, received 18 months, his brother Akram got 6 months suspended. The sailors, Ahmed Zeghima and Hacène Ammoumen, will respectively cope with 12 and 8 months of prison. Christian Aghetti, a recidivist wholesaler, got 8 months in prison. And for small wholesalers Joël Ros and Frédéric Leprout, a 12-month suspended sentence.
“We live in a city that has some of the poorest areas in Europe. This same city has a port which connects it to a country where cigarettes cost €1.85 a packet.”
Between 2015 and November 17th, 2016, this crew would have distributed around 68,400 cartons of cigarettes on the Black Market in Marseille and surrounding towns, according to Customs. The case started in April 2013, when the police stopped Nouar Fatnassi’s car and found 150 cartons of cigarettes. Nouar Fatnassi started explaining that he got them from sailors on a boat. Custom’s suspicions were raised, in may 2015, enough proof was put together to request a surveillance by the National Service of Judicial Customs (SNDJ). They secretly followed the crew, listened to their phone calls and showed an organisation which is very close to a drug smuggling network.
Providers, drivers, guards and wholesalers
Each time, the system is the same. On the day the ferry arrives from Algeria, Mostefa Benmimoun, the head of the gang, calls the port to ask which dock it is landing on and prepares the operation. Around midnight, he starts checking if police or customs are around. If it’s all clear then, between 3 and 6 AM, the crew meets at the boat. Alerted by Mostafa 30 minutes before the operations, the fraudsters are in place. After receiving a signal, sailors Hacène (aka “Hcinou”), or Zeghima take the large black garbage bags out of the boat. Mostefa jumps over the fence of the port, grabs the bags, throws them over again and jumps over the border again. Meanwhile, men are packing six large black bags full of 150 cartons of L&M and Marlboro in a Peugeot 207 or in a Volkswagen Touran.
The cars bring them to the storage space, either to Mahidi’s, to Anis’ or to Kamel’s place. Within one minute the car is emptied and driven back to grab the next cartons. This happens two or three times a night, with 150 cartons being transported each time. On an average night, Mostafa’s crew can transport 150 to 900 cartons, estimates Customs. Between September and October 2016, this happened 15 times.
The next day, contraband cigarettes start spreading into the city. First to the flee markets of La Joliette and Noailles, but also to wholesalers, like Jojo, sitting at the trial, which then distribute them in Toulon, 65 km from there.
The taste of the cigarettes are not too different from the French ones. In fact, they were “exports”, made for the duty free trade. “The shopkeeper counts his stock, sends it to his superior who validates it and gets his stock, which is then provided” explains Hcinou, one of the sailors. “The boat would stay at the dock for a couple of days. The number of cartons would depend on how many cigarettes the sailor would get” adds Kamel. But the person representing the customs at the bar says that “what was particularly shocking was the realisation that we were being spied on.”
“Strasbourg on, Strasbourg off”
“Go back to sleep brother. They are there. The same guys that got Zeghima the last time” Mostefa says to Hcinou, over the phone, around 2 in the morning on November 17th 2016, a couple of hours before the band was arrested. That night, they were supposed to take 524 cartons of cigarettes out of Tariq’s boat. But shortly after 2 o’clock, Mostafa made a couple of calls. The plan was aborted: Customs were there. Kamel and Mostefa spotted the cars and recognised their licence plates, both on the port and near Mehidi’s place, where they were supposed to deliver the cigarettes.
A whole code was established by the network. Before each operation, Mostefa would check at the customs office on boulevard de Strasbourg, through the windows, to see if the lights were on. He would then send a message and say either “Strasbourg on” or “Strasbourg off” (« Strasbourg allumé, Strasbourg éteint »). If the lights were on, the traffickers would all go back home. “But if they were off, it meant: let’s go to work” says Kamel with a smile.
On November 17th, after the operation was interrupted by the crew because of the presence of Customs, agents seized the Algerie Ferries “Tariq”boat. It was the biggest cigarette seizure in Marseille: 1,300 cartons of cigarettes that were found in the ceiling, in the cellar, and in the crews’ quarters.
“This trafficking is as old as the world”
“I was paid 40 to 50 euros per round trip, would do two per night” says Nouar. The fraudsters would earn 300 to 400 euros a month from this trafficking. Kamel, Mostefa’s “right arm” would get 1,000 to 1,200 euros a month, the equivalent of a minimum wage in France. Concerning Mostefa himself, he would get 400 euros per operation, “the number of operations per month would vary, depending on the arrival.” But the money they would make was nothing compared to the money made by drug lords.
The ship crew was paid between 150 and 300 euros a month by Algerie Ferries. Anis, Mostefa and Kamel were living off state-aids and undeclared jobs. Mostefa’s lawyer, defending his client, says this phenomenon is as old as the world: “We live in a city that has some of the poorest areas in Europe. This same city has a port which connects it to a country where cigarettes cost €1.85 a packet.” Indeed, when asked if they were the only ones emptying the ferries at night, Mostefa answers: “No. At each arrival of an Algerie Ferries boat, there are many different teams waiting on the port…”
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