Drug smuggling

Air Cocaine' drug-trafficking trial begins in France

Sitting on the asphalt at Punta Cana international airport in the Dominican Republic, the private plane was about to take off for an overnight flight to Saint-Tropez in France when police swooped.

Inside the aircraft, a Dassault Falcon 50, officers found four Frenchmen – two pilots and two passengers – along with 680kg of cocaine, with an estimated street value of €20m (£17.5m), in 26 battered suitcases.

Six years later, the trial of nine people accused of being part of a drug smuggling operation began in Aix-en-Provence, southern France, on Monday. Among the accused were two former French military pilots, a customs officer and a celebrity bodyguard.

All of the accused deny involvement in drug smuggling in a case that has come to be known as the “Air Cocaine” affair.