Joël Soudron, one of the most wanted French drug traffickers, was arrested in Panama and diplomatic procedures for an extradition request are underway, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said on Tuesday.
This 46-year-old Guadeloupean was wanted in connection with vast cocaine trafficking by containers, a case monitored by the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction (JIRS) of Paris, specifies the magistrate, confirming the newspaper “Le Monde”. Joël Soudron is suspected of being behind the trafficking revealed on November 18, 2011, following a check of a container at the port of Le Havre coming from Guadeloupe, which allowed customs officers to seize 231 kg of cocaine.
During an operation carried out in Baie-Mahault (Guadeloupe) in the premises of the moving company which organized the transport, “272 kg of cocaine and 284,930 euros were seized and the manager was arrested,” reports Ms. Beccuau in a press release. The continuation of the investigations carried out by the OFAST (Central Anti-Narcotics Office) had “revealed that 20 to 30 cocaine convoys had been carried out since 2005, including six in 2011”, continues the Paris prosecutor.
Arrest and escape
Joël Soudron was arrested for the first time in Mali in October 2016, as part of “another procedure for drug trafficking”, for which “he was sentenced by the Criminal Court of Créteil (Paris region) to six years’ imprisonment”, says Ms. Beccuau.
And on December 6, 2018, he escaped during a leave of absence and left French territory. For the vast drug trafficking attributed to him, his criminal trial is already set for June 11, 2026 in Paris.
By order of September 3, 2025, the investigating magistrate ordered his referral to the Criminal Court for “importing and trafficking of narcotics”, “money laundering”, “possession of a category B weapon”, “smuggling of goods dangerous to health”, “participation in a criminal association with a view to preparing an offense punishable by ten years”. Eight other people will also be tried in this case, adds the Paris prosecutor.
