I was only given the conversations with some Arabic to translate, but I knew that the drug squad detectives were listening to the wholesalers who were chatting amongst themselves and with their customers in French. Afid’s mates were all very suspicious and limited themselves to announcing fresh delivery by SMS, and nothing more. I guess they weren’t sure of the exact quantities before they took delivery.

The Benabdelaziz family had invested in a second-hand Crompton at the end of April, a semi-inflatable, flat-bottomed motor boat that would take them across the Spanish border by sea, with the new truck being permanently parked at Ceuta.

I made sure to mention this detail of the new boat in my transcripts, since the whole world, both in Morocco and France, was talking of nothing but the purchase and the mad rides — their words — they’d all be able to go on, out on the water in summer, even if Afid did dampen their enthusiasm each time by pointing out that the vessel was intended for work purposes.

Afid was planning a crossing in July, and this time he wouldn’t be alone, but accompanied by one of his uncle’s employees. A team of aquadores, specializing in the unloading of drugs, would be waiting for him on the beach at Calamocarro at Ceuta, their job being to secure the landing location and move the drugs as efficiently as possible to the false-bottomed truck.

Given all these reinforcements, the drug squad was anticipating a significantly larger quantity than normal.

Out of curiosity, I had watched a YouTube clip about how these disembarkations were managed. You could see this new breed of beach “attendants” shifting the cargo in broad daylight and with complete impunity smack in the middle of swimmers who were filming it all on their mobile phones.

Once the drugs were in the truck, the two men were planning to take it to a warehouse located near Vitry, not in a Go Fast convoy with other vehicles, but on their own, discreetly, driving at a grandfatherly pace in their vegetable lorry. Waiting at Vitry would be their three usual mates, plus two other wholesalers with their vehicle. On the return journey, Afid intended to use the truck to pick up his mother and sister and take them back to the bled for the summer holidays.

Sensing a big catch, the police had decided to arrest them in the act — just, as they put it, so they could stamp on those pissants before heading off themselves for a holiday in the sun.