AND HERE IS THE NEWS…

….a quick glance at the latest local news with Caroline Manson

More road blocks this week

Angry farmers in Southern Catalonia have organised more protests this week, which involved blocking the border in both directions again.  The A9 was closed between Leucate and Figuères on Tuesday and Wednesday which affected traffic in both directions.  Drivers are also warned that secondary routes are also be badly affected.  During the last ‘Tractorada’ when the border was closed heavy lorries caused traffic chaos and damage to properties in the narrow villages as they crossed to Spain via the N116.

Did you feel the Earth move?

A new earthquake was registered in the Pyrénées-Orientales this morning, just eleven days after the first tremor was felt in the centre of Perpignan.  This morning’s tremor registered just 2.1 on the Richter scale, with an epicentre in the municipality of Peyrestortes, and went largely unnoticed, unlike the first one which registered over 4.  These low level earthquakes are quite common as much of the department is classified as medium risk (level 4 out of 5).  The worst earthquake in recent times was in 1996 when a violent tremor registering 5.6 on the scale shook the region, causing damage to buildings, particularly in St Paul de Fenouillet. 

Tobacco smuggler caught at Le Boulou

Customs officers carrying out a control at the Le Boulou péage became suspicious when an approaching van made a u-turn and headed away from them.  A chase ensued and as soon as the officers approached the driver he admitted he was smuggling tobacco – a fact hard to deny as inside the van officers found 194 kilos of hookah tobacco and 150 cartons of cigarettes, with a total value of nearly 80,000euros.  Further investigations revealed that the tobacco was intended to supply the ‘parallel market’ in the night grocery stores of Perpignan.  

Could it be you?

Somebody in the P-O is the lucky winner of a 1million euro lottery prize.  The euro-millions jackpot of 73 million euros was claimed elsewhere in France but the secondary game involving the ‘my million’ code has been confirmed as being validated in Occitanie, and more specifically, in the Pyrénées-Oriéntales.  So far it is not yet known in which city and in which shop the winning ticket was validated – but you have 60 days to check your numbers.

8 million euro drug haul for customs officers

On Saturday, customs officers carrying out routine controls stopped a French registered van entering the A9 to head north.  Checking inside the van, they found 20 carefully wrapped bales featuring the cartoon character Scrooge McDuck (Donald’s uncle apparently).  These bales were not destined for children as inside was hidden 790kg of cannabis resin – which would have sold for 7,900,000euros on the black market.  

Violent outburst at Perpignan prison

In the prison courtyard, a 21 year old inmate suddenly attacked another inmate with pieces of glass, cutting him in the face and also the hand.  He then pulled out a 25cm ceramic knife (the article does not explain why he had this) and started threatening other inmates, whilst repeatedly stabbing himself in the stomach.  It was the inmates themselves who managed to control the man and hand over the weapon to a security guard.  The detainee explained that he had done this so that he would be sent to the high-security wing where he wished to attack the supervisors there.  Prison officers are in full investigation but are already demanding higher measures for all prisoners with a psychiatric profile.

And finally…

The alert procedure was triggered at 10.30am on Tuesday when customs controllers at Perpignan airport intercepted a suitcase which they suspected of holding explosives.  All travellers and staff were immediately evacuated and access roads from Peyrestortes and the Aeroclub roundabout were blocked while firefighters set up a security perimeter.  The owner of the luggage, a man of Italian origin who was taking the flight to Agadir in Morocco remained with the police while the bomb squad from Montpellier arrived to deal with whatever was in the suitcase.  Luckily for all concerned, it contained only personal belongings, multimedia equipment and batteries, and a piece of cheese…