Former French police officers face jail for cocaine scheme where confiscated drugs were replaced with sugar paste

Paris prosecutors today requested six-year prison sentences for two former narcotics squad police officers who replaced confiscated cocaine with sugar paste. Photo / 123rf

Paris prosecutors today requested six-year prison sentences for two former narcotics squad police officers who replaced confiscated cocaine with sugar paste.

The defendants, Thierry C., 60, and Christophe J., 50, were members of the French capital’s night-time anti-drugs taskforce but were expelled from the police following their arrests in December 2022.

Along with prison sentences, the prosecutor requested the confiscation of €600,000 from the bank account of Thierry C. and a €200,000 ($404,730) fine against Christophe J.

The court will make a decision on February 24.

Both men, one a commander and the other a sergeant, have already spent two years behind bars.

The pair admitted to replacing cocaine seizures on eight separate occasions between June 2020 and their arrest.

A total of 9kg of the drug with a market value of up to €630,000 was replaced with sugar paste.

Whether they intended to go on to sell the product is unclear.

The defendants said they had hidden the cocaine in the ceiling above the women’s showers on the fourth floor of the taskforce’s offices.

They said a break-up, anxiety related to Covid-19, and an unpleasant boss had pushed them into pilfering the illicit substance.

“They treat us like nobodies,” Thierry C. told the court.

Christophe J. said their boss was “the worst person I’ve ever met in terms of management”.

Both defendants said the birth of Thierry C.’s child had served as a wake-up call, prompting the pair to flush the stash down the toilet.

The prosecutor expressed reservations about how such a significant quantity of drugs had gone missing “without anyone doing anything about it. Nothing adds up.”

-Agence France-Presse