Three Maltese nationals have been arrested in the French Alps after military police seized more than 6,300 nitrous oxide canisters worth an estimated €340,000.
The arrests follow what local media described as a “large-scale” operation by the Savoyard Gendarmerie, after local customs officials discovered 13 pallets of nitrous oxide inside a rented unit in an industrial park.
Nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, produces short-term euphoric effects when inhaled, and is a popular recreational drug. Long-term use of the compound has been linked to neurological damage.
Law enforcement monitoring identified three rented vehicles travelling between the storage container and the Arc 1800 ski resort in the Bourg-Saint-Maurice region.
A subsequent noise complaint and reports of nitrous oxide use at the ski resort saw local police descend on the scene, when the three Maltese were arrested last week, according to Le Dauphiné libéré.
Searches of the suspects’ vehicles and their apartment yielded nitrous oxide bottles identical to those seized at the storage container, €5,000 in cash and a further £1,000.
The three accused appeared before the Albertville criminal court on Monday, when they requested the case be postponed to allow them time to prepare their defence.
The case was adjourned until February 23, and the three Maltese remanded in custody until their trial.
Nitrous oxide exists in a legal grey area in French law, as it is not classified as a narcotic. However, efforts have ramped up in recent years to restrict its use and sale. Possession, transportation and consumption was recently restricted in France’s Alpine Savoie region, with lawmakers citing increased risk of road traffic accidents and neurological, vascular and psychiatric disorders linked to its use.