French drug trafficker wanted by Interpol arrested in Venezuela

He was facing an Interpol red notice. French drug trafficker Gilles Tepy, sentenced in France to 18 years in prison, was arrested in Venezuela based on information provided by France, the Venezuelan army said on Monday. Acting “on information provided by the French authorities,” the army “succeeded in capturing in the state of Carabobo (north) a French citizen who had received an Interpol Red Notice for international drug trafficking,” according to a press release broadcast on Channel X by General Domingo Hernandez Lares. head of the Strategic Operations Command.

The tweet is accompanied by a photo of “Gilles Hervé’s Tepi” with the caption “Captive,” his passport number and the words “Interpol Code Red for International Drug Trafficking.”

The text specifies that a Venezuelan accomplice was also arrested. Gilles Tepy was sentenced in May 2014 to 18 years in prison by the Paris Criminal Court. He was one of the central figures in the drug trade, exposed in 2010 with the seizure of 111 kg of cocaine imported from Venezuela in Neuilly-sur-Seine (Haute-Seine).

Recidivist

At the time of sentencing, Gilles Tepy, a repeat offender, was already imprisoned in Venezuela and was sentenced to sixteen years in prison, also for drug trafficking. He was arrested in Caracas in April 2011. A year later, the Supreme Court of Venezuela (CSJ) ruled his extradition to France was appropriate, but postponed the extradition to an unspecified date because he first had to go through legal proceedings in Venezuela.

It is currently unclear why he was released again. Gilles Tepy was convicted in France at the same time as Yannick Dacheville, an organized crime figure. The investigation into Mr Dacheville sparked a scandal surrounding Lyon’s former anti-gang commissioner Michel Neyret, who was convicted of corruption.