The Minister of the Interior had figures to reveal this Sunday.
Visiting the Créteil police station (Val-de-Marne), in particular to congratulate the police on a seizure of more than 500 kg of cannabis, Gérald Darmanin took the opportunity to take stock of the French situation in terms of fight against drug trafficking.
This afternoon, I came to congratulate the Val-de-Marne police officers who made a very significant drug seizure this week: more than 500 kg of cannabis.
pic.twitter.com/Zlfdc6E6Bc
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) January 21, 2024
In 2020, “more than 4,000 deal points were identified on national territory, in France and overseas,” he recalled.
“And three years later, a thousand deal points have been eliminated in three years thanks to the very impressive work of the police and gendarmerie services.
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Gérald Darmanin also boasted of the number of traffickers arrested.
“This year 2023, an absolute record: 36,429 traffickers were arrested,” he said.
He nourished his remarks with examples of neighborhoods freed from drug trafficking, such as that of La Paternelle in Marseille, before listing drug points eradicated, such as in Hénin-Beaumont, in Boulogne-sur-Mer, in Vaulx- en-Velin, in Villeurbanne or in Besançon.
“Lots of additional entries”
“A thousand fewer deal points that have not been reconstituted is obviously a lot of additional seizures,” he added, specifying that other information on these seizures would be transmitted next week.
Gérald Darmanin also assured that he had proposed to the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic to provide “additional resources” to fight against drugs, which “are everywhere in society” and “ruin the lives of the French”.
He notably highlighted the arrival of “increasingly numerous” synthetic drugs on European soil, such as fentanyl, amphetamines and ecstasy.
He also has a meeting on Wednesday with the other European Interior Ministers to develop a “new European strategy to combat drugs and in particular synthetic drugs”.