Drugs: Eight years in prison for a major French trafficker who recruited a wheelchair-bound "mule"

In the hustle and bustle of the corridors at Orly Airport (Val-de-Marne), a disabled assistance agent notices his client from afar, hails her, and rushes over to seat her in a wheelchair. From that moment on, the passenger, who had just disembarked from Fort-de-France (Martinique), can let herself be guided by her attentive chaperone. This banal scene, on November 20, 2021, takes another turn when customs agents spot suspicious cargo in the three suitcases of this West Indian mother, traveling with her 3-year-old daughter.

50 kg of cocaine were hidden in the luggage of the traveler, unknown to the law. Miraculously, she had no trouble moving on her own to be taken to customs custody: her "PMR" ("person with reduced mobility") care, by her guardian angel, who also had no criminal record, was a deception designed to avoid searches. According to their interviews and analysis of their phones, the duo was in the service of a mysterious sponsor, nicknamed "Nasa."

After more than three years of investigation, notably targeting telephone data from conversations on the Signal app, the alleged "Nasa" appeared in person before the Paris Criminal Court on Thursday, June 19 and Friday, June 20, for the trial in this drug importation case. This slender 38-year-old man, with a serious expression and a ponytail, is a well-known figure to specialist magistrates. Firat Cinko has already been convicted ten times. He is also the distant cousin of the disabled assistant at Orly.

During his hearings before the investigating magistrate, as well as during the hearing, Mr. Cinko denied being this famous "Nasa", despite telephone cross-checks, geolocations, and links with other messages where other of his nicknames appear – those claimed – such as "Ralph" or "Rr".

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