News / France

French officer arrested with 27kg of cocaine in French Guinea

Saturday, 13 June 2015 5:45 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 13 June 2015 5:45 PM ]

The AFP photo shows packs of cocaine seized in the French Caribbean island of Martinique, April 15, 2015.

Security forces in French Guinea have arrested a French military officer for carrying about 27 kilograms of cocaine in his baggage.

According to reports on Saturday, the officer was detained at a customs checkpoint at Felix Eboue airport in Cayenne, the capital city of French Guinea, as he was trying to board a plane bound for Paris.

The drugs were discovered in the suitcase of the officer who was “in his forties,” said Isabelle Arnal, Cayenne’s deputy public prosecutor, confirming that the plane he tried to embark “transports army personnel.”

The unnamed man is currently held in police custody, the report added.

This is the largest amount of cocaine confiscated this year in Cayenne, a territory used by smugglers to transit drugs from Latin America to Europe.

French Guinea, located on the north Atlantic coast of South America, is an overseas department and region of France.

According to a census conducted in 2013, only 250,000 people live in the region, which borders Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west.

French Guinea was colonized by the European country in the eighteenth century. It is now officially included in the European Union and has euro as its currency.

FNR/HSN/HMV

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk