“Operation flick” and “XXL communication”, mocks the magistrates’ union. An “octopus”, a “hydra”, observe the magistrates, sometimes disillusioned. Drug traffic has never been so flourishing in France, driven by constantly increasing consumption. “Checkpoints”, claimed borders between the street and the kingdom of drug dealers, now cut off certain neighborhoods from the rest of the city. Acts of torture and murderous score-settling are increasing there, we are also discovering commandos of killer minors, sometimes unaware of their sponsor. “Vertigo” and “on the edge of the abyss”, say the senators of the commission of inquiry into drug trafficking in France.
Faced with the crisis, the government is trying to regain control. “XXL net space” operations launched in Marseille, Sevran, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Nantes, Lille… Discreet anti-money laundering investigations, too, in pursuit of ever more ingenious criminals. Out of sight, a silent struggle is taking place between the police and these deal princes, refugees in Dubai, Morocco or Spain where they claim to launder dirty money in complete peace. Each camp is trying to pull every lever to outrun the other. Investigation into a war with political, security, diplomatic, technological and scientific ramifications.
EPISODE 1 – These neighborhoods governed by dealers: investigation into the extent of drug trafficking in France
Chapter 3: Narcos R&D
The race for innovation also applies to drug traffickers. In March 2023, a semi-submersible was found abandoned a few hundred meters from the coast of Galicia, in Spain, by criminals, we learn in the Ofast annual report. This type of vehicle, similar to a tourist submarine, and capable of transporting “up to 6 tons of cocaine”, poses a major problem for investigators. Invisible on radars, “escaping traditional means of control”, says Ofast, it allows ports and their customs to be bypassed.
Most of the “research and development” effort is carried out by drug traffickers exporting cocaine, eager to gain new markets in Europe. According to the General Secretariat for the Sea, cocaine also represents 63.4% of the quantities seized at sea in 2023, compared to only 35% in 2022. “In a context of saturation of the American market, Colombian organizations are increasing their presence in Europe by getting involved in the processing of cocaine”, further indicates Ofast. In order to evade port controls, cocaine is transported in solid form or mixed with other substances, “in veneer wood or in water bottles”, says a government source. In May 2022, Ofast seized 22 tonnes of sugar… mixed with cocaine. A Colombian, expert in chemistry, is seen in the product delivery warehouse. In January 2023, a cocaine manufacturing laboratory was dismantled in Aisne. Two Colombian chemists are arrested.
The Venezuelan sector, which is growing rapidly, also seems to be present in France. In May 2023, two Venezuelans were arrested at the Toulouse bus station, with 2.5 million euros in small bills. Were they only in transit between Paris and Barcelona, as investigators suspect? “Due to favorable climatic conditions, the coca plantation could develop and make Venezuela one of the main producers of cocaine. The involvement of high state authorities is suspected,” writes Ofast.
The technological battle between the “narcos” and the police takes place mainly in ports. In the summer of 2024, customs will have ten mobile scanners, vans with articulated arms, capable of examining up to 30 containers per hour using X-rays. The port of Le Havre is already recording encouraging results with 10.4 tonnes of cocaine seized between 2022, compared to… 1.7 tonnes, for example, for the port of Marseille. Criminal groups respond with their corrupt power. According to Ofast, after “personalized screenings”, sometimes “over a long period of time”, as an intelligence agency would do, traffickers seek to compromise, including through “coercion” and “intimidation”. Examples of the price of corruption are provided. It would therefore cost between 20,000 and 60,000 to obtain from a dockworker the “loss” of his badge giving access to the port. For a customs officer, count 40,000 euros per suitcase. Smuggling a phone into prison would cost between 500 and 2000 euros. As for the verification by a police officer of the registration on a file of wanted persons, it would cost only 300 to 500 euros.
Chapter 4: The data war
Arson in the Var, on the night of February 13 to 14, 2024. Shortly after midnight, three hooded men broke the door of a computer data analysis laboratory, then set the place on fire. The intrusion lasted five minutes, no more. The car used to transport the criminals was found burned. Professional work. The company in question is mandated as a legal expert in around twenty investigations into alleged drug trafficking.
History shows to what extent “narcos” no longer hesitate to intimidate justice officials. It also describes the central role of the exploitation of telephone data in this type of business. As a result of “shaming” and other abuses, confessions become rare. DNA research does not always speak, so much so that smartphones remain, in the majority of investigations, the ultimate piece of evidence against criminals. However, the task of investigators has become severely complicated in recent years, with the advent of encrypted messaging, such as Whatsapp Telegram or Signal. “Yes, eavesdropping like a dad is no longer very effective,” confirms Gérald Darmanin, to whom his services have brought back the change in the culture of drug dealers.
Drug sellers now all have a phone dedicated to their business. They don’t make any calls or send any text messages. All their communications go through encryption, so that, despite having a tapped number, investigators remain completely deaf and blind to their target’s communications. For a time, criminals used private encrypted networks, similar to walkie-talkies. Except that French investigators, then several European services, managed to hack these platforms, called Encrochat, then Sky ECC. Hundreds of arrests were made possible, as well as seizures of 100 tonnes of drugs. Impossible, however, to claim to achieve the same feat with Whastapp or Signal, which are better protected.
You must have the telephone available after a search or arrest. In this case, the technical work of the DGSI, combined with the know-how of expert companies mandated by the courts, can make it possible to recover certain data, provided that they have not been deleted. But how can you search someone who shows no crime and only communicates via inaccessible encrypted messaging? Very often, the police come up against an insoluble problem, as in the case of the terrorist Mohammed Mogouchkov, whose DGSI was unable to decipher all of the messages before his murderous act in Arras on October 13.
The last opportunity consists of hacking the phone, which allows you to see live what messages the target exchanges. The use of spyware is theoretically authorized in the context of legal investigations but the problem is technical. The police use it very little, due to a lack of a sufficient success rate from specialized services. Behind the scenes, a battle for influence has been going on for several months in order to accept the entry of a new player into the market. A cyber-intelligence company, represented by a former secret service agent, obtained authorization in the fall of 2023 from the National Information Systems Security Agency (Anssi), to also offer its services to investigators. But the approval was left pending, given the possibility of allowing a private service provider access to ultra-sensitive missions.
For now, “we have to adapt”, summarizes prefect Frédérique Camilleri, despite the profusion of “Uber Shit” type offers, these online drug delivery platforms offered by actors of whom the police know nothing. Since a criminal reform in January 2023, law enforcement can more easily investigate under a pseudonym, and carry out “purchase strikes”, transactions for the benefit of dealers, in order to infiltrate these networks. In March 2024, Uber Shit networks were dismantled in Nice, Lyon, Villeparisis, Seine-et-Marne and Var. “Four perpetrators of ‘Uber shit’ trafficking were referred on March 22. We seized handguns,” specifies Samuel Finielz, the public prosecutor of Toulon.
This Friday at 5 p.m., find the third episode of our series dedicated to the technological innovation of traffickers and the role of encrypted messaging.
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