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Several French prisons were attacked overnight in response to the government’s efforts to combat drug trafficking in the country, senior officials said.
Unknown attackers fired automatic weapons in a prison in the southern city of Toulon, while vehicles outside other facilities across the country were burned and staff threatened.
France’s national prosecutor’s office against terrorism said on Tuesday that he took the lead on the investigation, while the country’s DGSI national security investigation will also be involved.
French media reported that the prisons targeted were in cities, including Toulon, Aix-and-Provence, Marseille and the Communes of Valence and Nimes.
Prisons were also targeted in the municipality of Villepinte and the suburb of nanterre near Paris, reportedly.
It is not immediately clear whether the attacks were coordinated or who performed it.
France’s Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, who made efforts to harden prison safety and disappear gang members who drain their empires from behind bars, said he would travel to Toulon.
“Attempts have been made to intimidate staff in various prisons, ranging from burning vehicles to shooting automatic weapons,” Mr. Darmanin wrote on x.
“I’m going to Toulon to support the officers involved. The French Republic faces the problem of drug trafficking and takes measures that will greatly disrupt the criminal networks. ‘
Meanwhile, Home Secretary Bruno Retailleau said he had instructed local prefects, along with police and gendarmerie, to increase the protection of staff and prisons immediately.
A ‘white tsunami’ cocaine
Years of record South American cocaine imports to Europe have fitted local drug markets, causing a wave of drug violence across the continent.
Gangs in France were able to expand from traditional power bases in cities such as Marseille to smaller regional towns that are not used to drug violence.
It is believed that the increase in gang crime led to a greater support for the right-wing national time party and contributed to the dragging the French politics to the right.
Mr. Darmanin, a former Home Secretary, and Mr. Retailleau has the tacking of drug trafficking.
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Bruno Retailleau, left, and Gerald Darmanin, right, gave preference to the tackle of drug trafficking. Pic: ap
In February, Mr. Retailleau in the first 11 months of 2024 record -cocaine seizures of 47 tonnes announced compared to 23 tonnes in the entire 2023.
Mr. Retailleau said France was hit by a ‘white tsunami’ that rewrote the rules of the criminal landscape.
Meanwhile, Mr. Darmanin proposed a series of measures to tighten the safety of the prison, including isolation of the country’s Top 100 Kingpins.
Lawmakers are also close to the approval of a new drug trade law that would create a new office of the national organized crime and give a greater investigation to the police investigating drug gangs.
French authorities won a victory against drug crime in February, When they recaptured Mohamed AmraA French refugee known as “the fly.”
His escape when he was transported from prison to a court hearing led to the death of two prison guards and was seized by right -wing politicians on the basis of that as proof that France lost his grip on drug crime.
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