Six years after they fled the Dominican Republic after being convicted for trafficking drugs on a private plane that was set to fly from Punta Cana to St. Tropez, in France. The trial for Pascal Fauret and Bruno Odos began in France on 18 February 2019. The case has since been nicknamed by the media as the Air Cocaine case when linked to the attempted and past successful smuggling of 680 kilograms of cocaine drug to Europe. The pilots deny they knew the contents of the many suitcases that were loaded onto their aircraft. The men were arrested upon arriving in France.
International media report that the French court will hear scores of witnesses and experts over seven weeks and the defendants face up to 30 years in prison.
Only one suspect, Ali Bouchareb, is still in detention in the case while the other eight were granted bail pending the trial. The 47-year-old is the supposed organizer of the crime also known as ‘Daryan’or ‘Rayan’and has previous convictions for drug trafficking. He was arrested in Spain but states that he is innocent.
The prosecution alleges that prior to this particular flight there were an additional two flights from Punta Cana to France with the same pilots and the same passengers and suggest these flights were also used to transport drugs.
Read more:
Diario Libre
France 24
The Guardian
RFI
19 February 2019