“Stand together” against drug trafficking. From Marseille, the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, and the Minister of Justice, Didier Migaud, displayed their unity, during a press conference organized this Friday, November 8, to present their plan to fight against illegal trade of narcotics. In a city long affected by the problem of the fight against drugs, where 17 people have already been killed since the start of the year in connection with drug trafficking, the fight against this scourge has been made a “national cause” by the two managers. A whole battery of measures has been announced to act “quickly” against this type of trafficking, particularly in the Marseille city.
National coordination unit and professional magistrates
On the judicial level, Didier Migaud reiterated the idea of creating a new “national prosecutor’s office” to fight against organized crime, even beyond drug trafficking. The Minister of Justice indicated that a “national coordination unit” attached to the Paris prosecutor’s office, “responsible for drawing up a state of the threat, setting an operational strategy and implementing it”, would be set up “in the next few weeks. This will be made up of “magistrates and representatives of the other ministries concerned, Interior, Finance in particular, and criminal analysts”, he detailed.
Another important announcement: the Minister of Justice said he was considering the trial of “organized gang crimes”, such as those linked to drug trafficking, by special assize courts, composed solely of professional magistrates. A configuration that already exists today in terrorism cases. The objective, according to Didier Migaud? “Remove the risk of pressure exerted on the jurors”, who usually make up the assize courts, “with a view to guiding the final judicial decision”. Bruno Retailleau, for his part, hopes to be able to “transpose” the “investigation techniques” used in the fight against terrorism for the benefit of investigations into drug trafficking. “There will be a before and an after as with terrorism,” he promised on this subject.
More resources against drug trafficking
On the ground, several changes were also presented by the two ministers. The human resources devoted to the fight against drug trafficking will be strengthened. The staff already present in the interregional jurisdictions (JIRS) “will be protected throughout the territory”, including in Marseille. “The teams of the Paris prosecutor’s office working on the fight against organized crime at the national level” will see their number increase by 40%, specified Didier Migaud. Resources will also increase in all branches of the Anti-Narcotics Office (Ofast) in the region, added the Minister of the Interior. The “investigation sector” will also be “strengthened”, he promised, without providing further details.
In Marseille, 25 additional investigators should be deployed in the city to undermine drug trafficking. On public roads, the police force should be filled with 95 new civil servants in the metropolis, an “unprecedented effort” in this area according to Bruno Retailleau. Finally, a “liaison magistrate in Bogotá” will also be appointed soon, Colombia appearing among the “source of trafficking” States, specified Didier Migaud.
“Hit criminals in the wallet”
The issue of prevention was also raised by the two men. The need for an “electroshock” among the population was thus put forward by Didier Migaud. A “communication campaign” to “reveal the links between the use of narcotics, the violence of traffickers and the resulting offenses” will soon be launched with this in mind. In recent weeks, Bruno Retailleau had already made the link between personal drug consumption and the tragedies linked to drug trafficking. At the end of October, a five-year-old child was shot in the head following a shooting linked to drug trafficking in a district of Rennes.
“A joint tastes like blood, it tastes like tears,” the Minister of the Interior had already said, in reference to “networks” and “mafiosi” who “get fat” and “sponsor crimes.” ” to continue their illegal activity. “Beyond incarceration, we must hit criminals in the wallet, by strengthening the possibilities of seizure and judicial confiscation,” added the Minister of Justice this Friday. The creation of a new offense of “criminal conspiracy” will also be considered by the government. This should “be extended to assassinations and be accompanied by a sentence of criminal imprisonment”, he finally added.