On Friday, October 8, 2021, Mélanie Boulanger, the socialist mayor of Canteleu (Seine-Maritime), was arrested. The leader of the PS-EELV ticket in the recent regional elections, according to our knowledge, is being held in prison in Rouen. Another 18 people were arrested as a result of the anti-narcotics operation. Mélanie Boulanger is still being heard on the grounds of the Rouen Police Hall on Saturday, October 9th, one day after her arrest. The mayor of Canteleu is being taken in prison as part of a drug trafficking and criminal organisation investigation. She must explain her claimed ties to the key actors in this multi-billion-dollar case, particularly a family with whom she would have had phone communication.
Mélanie Boulanger was detained at her house on Friday, October 8, 2021 in the morning, according to our knowledge. Following an anti-narcotics operation, the mayor of Canteleu was apprehended by police in Rouen.
According to AFP, “this operation took place on rogatory commission of an investigating magistrate of the judicial court of Bobigny” in Seine-Saint-Denis, according to Frédéric Teillet, prosecutor of the Republic of Rouen. Mélanie Boulanger was brought into prison as part of this investigation for drug trafficking and criminal association, according to a police source. Two years ago, an inquiry was launched. The public prosecutor of Bobigny, Éric Mathais, stated in an evening statement that a total of 19 individuals had been detained, fifteen in Seine-Maritime and four in Seine-Saint-Denis. The elected socialist’s entourage conjures up images of “scandalous behaviour” and “surrealist violence.” His deputy for economic development, trade, and employment, according to our knowledge, was also detained.
The individuals were detained and taken into prison “on the rogatory commission of an investigating judge from Bobigny, seized of a judicial inquiry launched since September 2019 of the leaders of drug trafficking and criminal associations,” according to the Bobigny prosecutor.
The investigations enabled the judge to “identify many individuals in connection with this traffic” and “plan a simultaneous operation.” According to Éric Mathais, the arrests were made by the departmental service of the judicial police of Seine-Saint-Denis (SDPJ 93), which was seized of the investigations, as well as the departmental security service of the DDSP of Seine-Maritime. The prosecutor in Bobigny has neither verified or disputed Mélanie Boulanger’s arrest, but says that searches on Friday “made it possible to recover 15 kilogrammes of heroin, 25 kilogrammes of cutting product, weapons, and the amount of 375,000 euros.”
According to an AFP source close to the situation, “weapons of war” such as tiny Uzi submachine rifles are being used.
The prosecutor said on Friday evening that the police detention is “still in process and, with the ability to last up to 96 hours, is likely to be extended.” “At the conclusion of the follow-up, the examining magistrate will determine for each individual,” Éric Mathais remembered. For the time being, neither Mélanie Boulanger’s close associates nor her political family are willing to comment. The leader of the PS-Europe Ecologie Les Verts list in the recent regional elections, according to his municipal team, called a lawyer yesterday. She may be able to talk following her detention in Rouen, which may continue until Monday morning.
