A number of French prisons had been attacked in a single day in response to authorities efforts to clamp down on drug trafficking within the nation, senior officers mentioned.
Unknown assailants fired computerized weapons at a jail within the southern metropolis of Toulon, whereas automobiles had been burned outdoors different services throughout the nation and employees had been threatened.
France’s nationwide anti-terrorism prosecutor’s workplace mentioned on Tuesday that it had taken cost of the investigation, whereas the nation’s DGSI nationwide safety investigation can even be concerned.
French media reported that the prisons focused had been in cities together with Toulon, Aix-En-Provence, Marseille, and the communes of Valence and Nimes.
Prisons had been additionally focused within the commune of Villepinte and the suburb of Nanterre close to Paris, in keeping with studies.
It isn’t instantly clear whether or not the assaults had been co-ordinated, or who carried them out.
France’s Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, who has led efforts to toughen jail safety and crack down on gangsters who run their empires from behind bars, mentioned he would journey to Toulon.
“Attempts have been made to intimidate staff in several prisons, ranging from burning vehicles to firing automatic weapons,” Mr Darmanin wrote on X.
“I am going to Toulon to support the officers concerned. The French Republic is facing up to the problem of drug trafficking and is taking measures that will massively disrupt the criminal networks.”
In the meantime, the nation’s Inside Minister Bruno Retailleau mentioned he had instructed native prefects, alongside the police and gendarmerie, to instantly step up the safety of employees and prisons.
A ‘white tsunami’ of cocaine
Years of document South American cocaine imports to Europe have supercharged native drug markets, sparking a wave of drug violence throughout the continent.
Gangs in France have been in a position to increase from conventional energy bases in cities like Marseille into smaller regional cities unaccustomed to drug violence.
The rise in gang crime is believed to have led to elevated assist for the far-right Nationwide Rally occasion and have helped drag French politics rightward.
Mr Darmanin, a former inside minister, and Mr Retailleau have prioritised tackling drug trafficking.
Picture:
Bruno Retailleau, left, and Gerald Darmanin, proper, have prioritised tackling drug trafficking. Pic: AP
In February, Mr Retailleau introduced document cocaine seizures of 47 tonnes within the first 11 months of 2024 in comparison with 23 tonnes in all of 2023.
Mr Retailleau mentioned France had been hit by a “white tsunami” that had rewritten the principles of the felony panorama.
In the meantime, Mr Darmanin has proposed a sequence of measures to tighten jail safety, together with isolating the nation’s prime 100 kingpins.
Lawmakers are additionally near approving a sweeping new anti-drug trafficking regulation that might create a brand new nationwide organised crime prosecutors’ workplace and provides better investigative energy to police investigating drug gangs.
French authorities scored a win in opposition to drug crime in February, once they recaptured Mohamed Amra, a French fugitive generally known as “The Fly.”
His escape as he was being transported from jail to a court docket listening to resulted within the deaths of two jail guards and was seized upon by right-wing politicians as proof that France had misplaced its grip on drug crime.
