The fight against drug trafficking recorded "
rather encouraging
" results in 2022 in the Bouches-du-Rhône, with however the "
black spot
" of violence between gangs which left 31 dead, pleaded this Wednesday the prefect of department police.
In two years, the “shelling strategy” now put into practice has thus made it possible to reduce the number of “
deal points
” in the department from 220 to 181, and from 156 to 127 for the city of Marseille, detailed Frédérique Camilleri at a press conference.
Continue “daily harassment”
It is a question of carrying out a "
daily harassment of all the links in the chain
", from consumers to retailers, from small traffickers to "
heads of networks
", also relying on "
cooperation between partners
", communities , associations or donors, as illustrated by a mobilization around the New Year to avoid the installation of a deal point in the city of Campanules, in the east of Marseille.
On the consumer side, 18,600 “crime
fixed fines
”, for use, have been drawn up, an increase of 50% over 2021, the first year of full application of this system intended to improve the criminal response.
On the traffic side, 2,296 people were implicated (+ 11.8%) in the department, including 1,813 in Marseille (+ 6.1%).
As for the networks and their leaders, 10 “
priority objectives
” were arrested, 5.5 tonnes of cannabis and 2.4 tonnes of cocaine seized, and 29 million criminal assets (20 million in 2021) immobilized.
Read alsoIn Marseille, the chilling radioscopy of cities undermined by drugs
Maintaining a high level of violence
In this "
rather encouraging landscape, there is a black point, the
maintenance of a high level of violence" in the conflicts between traffickers, recognized the prefect.
In 2022, there were 65 trafficking-related homicides or attempts, for 31 deaths (49 and 31 deaths in 2021).
At the end of 2021, the number of "
settlements of scores
" recorded by the police headquarters had been 15 for the year, but this definition was then much more restrictive, de facto ruling out many homicides linked to drug trafficking.
At the same time, weapon seizures increased sharply in 2022, with 1,208 weapons in the department (+79%), including 483 in Marseille (+74%).
This anti-narcotics policy must be further accentuated, thanks in particular to reinforced resources: after the arrival of 300 police officers in Marseille in 2022, 21 additional police officers will be assigned to the judicial police services in 2023 and three CRS companies, i.e. 240 police officers , are now permanently assigned to Marseille.
