“A war without end”: The drug trade is booming in France like never before and the violence it causes has reached record levels in 2023.
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“The threat has reached a historically high level,” says the head of the Anti-Drug Office (Ofast), Stéphanie Cherbonnier, bluntly. “No territory will be spared.”
Driven by strong demand – 5 million regular cannabis users, 600,000 cocaine users, according to the French Office of Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) – the national drug market generates an estimated annual turnover of 3 billion euros.
As of mid-November, police had recorded 315 homicides or attempted murders between criminals related to drug trafficking, an increase of 57% compared to the same period in 2022.
In Marseille (southeast) alone, the war between two competing criminal organizations for control of the lucrative drug market has claimed 47 lives since January 1, most of them “small hands in the drug trade”.
Other cities are also affected by this violence: Nantes (west), Besançon (east), Toulouse (southwest), Avignon (southeast) and Nîmes (south) had to settle their scores this year.
In order to wage what he describes as “the mother of all battles”, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has spared no means in “bombarding” the treaty points and trying to destabilize traffic.
But the task is gigantic.
“Sometimes it seems like we are emptying the ocean with a teaspoon,” admits a Normandy-based investigator. “It is frustrating because the people we interview are always very quickly replaced by other little soldiers.”
“Narchomicide”
According to Ofast, 240,000 people in France live directly or indirectly from drug trafficking, including 21,000 full-time workers.
The products are highly profitable for criminal organizations. “Cocaine is bought for between 28,000 and 30,000 euros per kilo and resold between 65 and 70 euros per gram,” explains Stéphanie Cherbonnier.
In this dynamic market driven by “increasing production” and “strong diversified demand, particularly for synthetic products,” competition is fierce and justifies the use of force.
“There is an undeniable desire to physically eliminate competitors,” notes the head of the Central Office for the Fight against Organized Crime (OCLCO), Yann Sourisseau.
In the past, one investigator recalls, territorial disputes ended with “intimidating shots fired at building facades” or “with pickaxes.” From now on, commandos equipped with military weapons no longer hesitate to “romp” in the middle of the street.
This indiscriminate shelling, far from an “old-fashioned” reckoning, has increased the number of collateral victims.
Little soldiers
The little soldiers of this murderous war are also young, whether they are “chouffes” (lookouts), “charbonneurs” (sellers) or “charcleurs” (murderers).
Of the 450 victims identified by the police in 2023, “30% were under 20 years old,” its director general Frédéric Veaux recently noted. And “20% of perpetrators are between 16 and 19 years old,” according to OCLCO statistics.
In the fight against drug traffickers, police officers, gendarmes, customs officers and judges fight step by step.
In 2022, seizures broke a new historical record of more than 157 tonnes, with cannabis (128.6 tonnes) and cocaine (27.7 tonnes) leading the way.
However, they only affect a small part of the quantities in circulation. “Seizures are increasing, but this is nothing compared to the profits from drug trafficking,” Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau recently noted.
On the violence front, 83 homicides and attempted homicides were solved in 2022, a clearance rate of 30%, and 123 perpetrators were charged and imprisoned, the OCLCO reports.
Last year, “8,000 weapons were confiscated, an increase of 10% compared to 2021, of which 25% were in drug trafficking investigations,” adds Stéphanie Cherbonnier.
But the observation remains: despite widespread repression, human trafficking and its ominous wave of violence continue to increase.
Judicial cooperation
“Even strict punitive measures do not deter human traffickers,” admits the police chief of the Bouches-du-Rhône (south-east) department, Frédérique Camilleri. “They have to go to prison for thirty years, and that doesn’t deter them.”
Some therefore already fear that the situation could get out of control, as in Belgium or the Netherlands, where drug mafias are corrupting, eliminating and no longer shying away from threatening ministers…
In September, around fifty local elected representatives called for a “national and European plan” to combat the human trafficking plaguing their neighborhoods. “It is time to break this vicious cycle of violence that results from human trafficking,” they wrote in an article published in Le Monde.
In summary, they recommend “more resources,” a “durable health policy,” to “reduce demand,” or “totally attack traffickers’ wallets.”
But the prosecution of the perpetrators runs into the danger of judicial cooperation. “The drug lords (…) are refugees in a number of countries where extradition proceedings are interrupted today,” summarized Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
In Morocco, Algeria and especially Dubai they launder their money and continue to manage their networks.
Although relations with the emirate have officially improved in recent years, difficulties remain. “Police cooperation works, the problem lies behind,” complains a high-ranking Paris judge.
Assets and money laundering
“Marcassin”, “The Professor”, “Bison”, several network executives wanted by France have been arrested in Dubai in recent years. But so far only two have been extradited, Hakim Berrebouh and Moufide Bouchibi. Others were released by the Emirati judiciary.
“The legislation is not the same in Dubai. They have an extremely strict formalism,” says Stéphanie Cherbonnier, who has high hopes for the arrival of a French liaison judge in Dubai at the beginning of the year.
Judges and police officials are also calling for an increased fight against the financial profits derived from human trafficking, as well as its money laundering and corruption, in particular by expanding the confiscation of criminal assets.
“We must continue to attack the fuel of serious organized crime,” summarized prosecutor Beccuau.
To those calling for the legalization of cannabis sales, Gérald Darmanin responds by pointing the finger at consumers. “If there were no consumers,” repeats the minister, “there would be no sense in a deal, there would be no settlement…”
I'm not sure what the message is. Today, authorities fear an “explosion” in the market for synthetic drugs, which are in high demand from young users seeking ever-higher levels of toxins. And monitor the emergence of synthetic opioids.
“The Americans keep warning us: When fentanyl arrives in France, it will be something different!”, expects Judge François Antona, head of the Paris prosecutor's office responsible for combating organized crime (Jirs).
On the ground, those who fight the drug trade every day have no illusions. “It is a never-ending war, it is clear that we will not stop human trafficking,” concludes the Normandy investigator, “but it is our job to try to disrupt it, sometimes even destroy it.”