France seizes 440,000 face masks as it breaks up medical smuggling networks

FILE PHOTO: An employee sews a protective face mask inside the Toyota Motor Manufacturing France plant in Onnaing during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in France, May 7, 2020. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo

PARIS (Reuters) - French police have dismantled smuggling networks trying to take advantage of a rush to buy medical supplies including face masks to tackle the coronavirus epidemic, the interior minister said on Friday.

By the end of April, police had dismantled a number of such smuggling networks, stopped scams and attempted scams to the value of more than 30 million euros ($32 million), and seized 438,000 masks, he said.