French police officer suspected of stealing 115 pounds of cocaine
PARIS — French police arrested an officer on Saturday whom they suspect of stealing some 52 kg (115 pounds) of cocaine, worth around 2 million euros ($2.69 million), from a locked room inside central police headquarters in Paris.
Police discovered on Friday that the cocaine, which was seized in a raid in July and then kept in a locker inside the headquarters overlooking the Seine river, had disappeared.
Security camera footage helped investigators to identify a man entering the anti-drugs squad’s quarters with two bags on the night of July 24 and leaving shortly after, police said in a statement.
Other officers helped to identify the man as a member of the Paris anti-drugs unit and he was tracked down and arrested in southern France, the statement said.
A police source said the officer, 30, had been arrested in the southern city of Perpignan, near the border with Spain, during a raid.
It was the second time this year that the Paris police headquarters at 36 Quai des Orfevres has been involved in scandal.
In April, two officers from an anti-gang squad were placed under investigation after they were accused of having raped a 34-year-old Canadian woman visiting Paris.
The investigation is ongoing.
(1 US dollar = 0.7447 euro) (Reporting by Nicholas Vinocur and Nicolas Bertin; Editing by Stephen Powell)
