As with the ingredients for a pizza ordered online, simply select the desired products from a drop-down menu. Your choice: cannabis or cannabis resin, of all kinds and all origins, cocaine in blue, pink, purple or yellow bags, “menus” combining several types of drugs, to pick up directly in the La Castellane district, in Marseille, or to have it delivered to your home. Despite the “XXL square net” operation launched by the government last week throughout France, and the visit of Emmanuel Macron himself to this district in the north of the Marseille city, drug trafficking continues to flourish on the Internet, from applications like Snapchat, Telegram or WhatsApp. The dealers barely comment, live, on the comings and goings of the CRS in the neighborhood, apologizing to their customers for the “inconvenience caused”. Exceptionally, for several days they have guaranteed the opening of the deal point at 7 a.m., three hours before the arrival of the police between the blocks of buildings. New “backup” channels have even been created on Telegram, in case discussions are intercepted by law enforcement. The “delivery system” has been redesigned “around the neighborhood” in order to “no longer need to enter the city for the moment”, sellers promise their customers.
On social networks, they are attracted with promotions, colorful emojis and offers of free deliveries. Message after message, all the codes of classic marketing are taken up by the dealers: guaranteed “superior quality” products, best-sellers “victims of their success and unavailable at the moment”, decreasing prices depending on the number of grams ordered, delivery fast… On certain conversations, reviews from satisfied customers and a detailed explanation of payment methods are also published, in order to reassure customers about their purchases. “In the space of three years, we have seen this phenomenon explode. From now on, you can have what you want delivered, when you want, wherever you want, everywhere in France,” laments Rudy Manna, spokesperson for the union of Alliance police. To the point that the police now nickname this digital traffic “Uber shit”, or “Uber coke”, depending on the substance chosen. In Marseille or elsewhere, the system is well known to consumers. “With colleagues from the BAC, last week we counted between 10 and 12 delivery men present at the same time in the same district in the south of Marseille. It’s enormous,” breathes Rudy Manna.
Unlimited financial resources
In Ile-de-France, in Lyon, Grenoble, Lille, or even in Loiret, The Express was able to very easily consult dozens of Telegram conversations connecting dealers and their customers. For amounts ranging from 20 to more than 250 euros, any drug can be delivered to users directly to their homes. As on Instagram, draw competitions are even organized, allowing you to win a few extra grams of cannabis, while “special small budget menus” are offered to less fortunate consumers. “We have seen everything, including subscription cards, with a free bag of cannabis after 10 purchases. Not to mention the samples offered to test new drugs, often stronger and more expensive, to get the customer hooked” , deplores Jean-Christophe Couvy, spokesperson for the SGP Police Unit union.
In Grenoble, the local representative of the union Brice Gajean mentions bags flocked with QR codes linking directly to the dealers’ digital points of sale, raffles organized each year to win game consoles or telephones for customers, or even fireworks set off in neighborhoods and filmed live “when the traffickers reach a million euros in profits”. On the Internet, traffic is not limited to the simple seller-consumer link. To make life easier for traffickers, discussion groups also offer weapons, ammunition, “kits” for beginner sellers with pouch, lighter and scales, counterfeit banknotes, “untraceable” telephones, stolen cars and scooters to facilitate deliveries, or even money laundering advice. “It’s a real business, with suppliers, advertisers, canvassers, supply specialists… And unlimited financial resources,” summarizes Brice Gajean.
In all areas, networks are becoming more professional: it is not uncommon to come across professional-level clips, sometimes filmed with a drone, highlighting a neighborhood or a specific deal point. Videos of large sedans in support and rap songs in the background, the dealers describe a “100% pure quality” product, “impeccable service” and “exceptional” delivery. “Social networks are used to promote traffic activity, to do marketing, as for a classic SME. There are so many accounts and activity on the Internet that it is absolutely impossible to fight against,” analyzes Mohammed Benmeddour , former social mediator of the northern districts.
“All young people fantasize about the network”
In three years, the host has seen the development of a real community on social networks, which shares the same codes and the same references as the traffickers, listens to the same music, consumes the same products, and increasingly reinforces the feeling of belonging to a “clan” – while completely trivializing drug trafficking and its consequences. “All young people fantasize, from the age of 10-12, about ‘the network’. For them, it’s like joining a renowned company. They think they will earn millions, obtain professional recognition and stature within the neighborhood… This is how they get fooled,” regrets Mohamed Benmeddour.
Ouassila Benhamdi, president of the association helping victims of drug trafficking Conscience, regularly speaks with young people blinded by the promise of a superstar’s life, made up of luxury cars, trips to Dubai and top brand clothing. “They watch the lives of traffickers on the networks, and want to be part of it. They too want to treat themselves to the latest phone, the latest fashionable sneakers, to buy McDonald’s for their girlfriend after school without asking any questions …So they go for it,” explains the mother.
To enter “the network”, sometimes all it takes is one click. While just ten years ago, traffickers posted classified ads in their neighborhood mailboxes, the quality of their job offers has changed significantly. On social networks, their messages are now sometimes worthy of the LinkedIn posts of large tech companies: with emojis, gifs and bullet points, they promise their future “choufs” (watchers) or “smut eaters” ( salespeople) salaries reaching 150 to 200 euros per day, reimbursement for travel from all cities in France, accommodation, and rapid career development. “There are literally HR centers within the trafficking networks: you introduce yourself and we explain your hours, your missions and how to take care of customers,” explains Jean-Christophe Couvy.
While drug consumption has never been so high in France, and the need for labor is colossal, traffickers are now trying to recruit young people from small and medium-sized towns, or even the countryside, as well as unaccompanied minors (UMAs) in precarious situations. “These teenagers don’t know what they’re getting into. Once recruited, the slightest mistake can be fatal to them: fictitious debts are invented for them, they work twelve hours a day, they are threatened, even tortured if they try to leave the network”, describes Rudy Manna. “Once they get in, it’s almost impossible to get them out,” adds Ouassila Benhamdi. “There is pressure from the network, but also that from society: try to find work when you have been in prison or are identified as a trafficker in the northern districts… Most return there because they have the feeling of not having a choice,” she emphasizes.
“Beating” live
The explosion of violence is also more than dissuasive. Beyond recruitment and the sale of their products, dealers now use social networks as a preferred channel for disseminating acts of retaliation. “The image is a weapon. They broadcast live beatings, Kalashnikov shots, scenes of torture, even murders… To warn possible deserters, informants or competitors of what could happen to them,” explains Rudy Manna. To describe this rise in brutality within the networks, Mohammed Benmeddour does not hesitate to use the term “Mexicanization” of the networks. “The youngest are so used to violence that nothing shocks them anymore,” he despairs. A few months ago, after a visit to the museum with four young people, the mediator discovered the charred body of a young woman, at the foot of a building in the 13th arrondissement. “I immediately called the police, I was shocked. The young people took out their phones to film the scene and post it on social networks. They were happy to be able to create a little buzz, to display this violence on TikTok,” he says.
Faced with this tidal wave of images, anonymous accounts and trafficking, police representatives half-heartedly evoke a battle lost in advance. “We lack human and financial resources, we cannot stop every delivery, search every consumer. Our problem is the volume of data to be processed,” explains SGP Police Unit. Despite “a clear progression” of Internet investigators in recent years, Rudy Manna, for his part, blames social networks themselves. “Snapchat, WhatsApp and Telegram have their share of responsibility. They refuse to delete this or that account, don’t care what can be published on their networks. It’s a bottomless pit, an ocean that should be emptied at once. little spoon”, he regrets. Like one of the “emergency accounts” put online by Castellane dealers following the “XXL net space” operation. Created on March 23, the Telegram channel is already followed by more than 200 customers.
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