France, Switzerland crackdown on drug money

French authorities have arrested 17 people, some of them of Moroccan origin, suspected of laundering about 40 million euros ($52 million) of drug money while three more have been arrested in Switzerland, sources in both countries said Saturday.

The inquiry that led to the arrests was launched in February into the smuggling of tonnes of cannabis from Morocco to the Paris region via Spain.

Nine of those arrested had been charged so far in France, including a deputy mayor of a Paris district, Florence Lamblin, who resigned Saturday from her post while denying any involvement, associates said.

A police source said it was the biggest case of its kind to have been cracked by the French police.

Eight of those charged were freed on bail of between 80,000 and one million euros, a judiciary source said, while the ninth had been kept in custody on suspicion of drug dealing.

The remaining eight suspects were expected to be brought before a judge later in the day.

A source close to the case said home searches had turned up 400,000 euros in cash while millions more had been found in safe deposits and bank accounts.

In Switzerland the Geneva prosecutors’ office said two men had been put in custody while a third had been released on bail.

Swiss press reports said the main suspects were three brothers of Moroccan origin, who allegedly laundered the cash via a Geneva-based finance company and with the possibly unwitting participation of French tax evaders.

The newspaper Le Temps quoted prosecutor Yves Bertossa as saying a search of the Geneva villa owned by one of the brothers disclosed a hidden safe containing one million Swiss francs (800,000 euros), and 160 watches and jewellery, estimated in total to be worth three million francs.