A police sergeant suspected of having stolen 52 kilos of cocaine from the headquarters of the Paris police was on Wednesday placed under formal investigation for theft, a judicial source said, reports FRANCE 24.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has called for a “rigorous, in-depth” investigation into the theft, the second scandal this year to hit the Paris police headquarters overlooking the Seine river near Notre Dame cathedral.
The 34-year-old officer, who belonged to an anti-drug unit, is suspected of having stolen the drugs, worth about €2 million ($2.7 million), from a secure room inside the headquarters, where they had been placed after being seized in a raid.
He was arrested last Saturday at his holiday home in the southwestern city of Perpignan. Fellow officers had identified him as the same man they saw on surveillance footage leaving the site with two bags on the night of July 24.
The officer, who was suspended from duty, denies any wrongdoing.
The prosecutor’s office placed the officer under formal investigation for theft by a government employee, as well as several other charges.
Investigators said they had found some €25,000 in cash in a rucksack at the suspect’s Paris apartment. The suspect claimed that he had won the money with online gaming, the source said. The stolen cocaine is still missing.
Police sources have said the stash has “not appeared on the open market”. However, reports emerged on Wednesday of the discovery of 200kg (450 pounds) of cannabis in a garage next to one rented by the once “well-regarded” officer.
Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.