A "
major police operation
" against drug trafficking led to the arrest of 21 people on Monday in Besançon, announced the Zonal Directorate of the Eastern Judicial Police, after violence by firearms which left two dead.
The operation took place in Planoise, a district of republican reconquest (QRR), the scene for months of a turf war between dealers.
Lengthy investigations
The result of several months of investigations carried out by the judicial police service of Besançon, it took place according to two letters rogatory issued by an investigating judge of the Jirs (Specialized interregional jurisdiction) of Nancy, specifies the zonal direction in a statement.
"
We are on a criminal case (...) Charges weigh on all those in custody for acts of complicity or direct participation in the facts followed by the investigation
", explained to an AFP correspondent a source familiar with the matter.
"
The investigations are continuing
", it was added, indicating that "
the times of police custody will be extended for 96 hours within the framework of the association of criminals
".
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More than 200 police officers were mobilized, from the ranks of the judicial police of Besançon and Dijon, with the reinforcement of the services of Nancy, Metz, Reims, Mulhouse and Strasbourg, according to the zonal direction of the judicial police.
Six research and intervention brigades (BRI), from Paris, Versailles, Dijon, Metz or Strasbourg also took part in the operation, supported by the Raid de Lyon and Strasbourg branches as well as five canine teams from the zonal direction of public security East, according to the same source.
“
A CRS force
” was also mobilized to ensure the security of the operation, it was added.
A 15-year-old boy was shot dead in the Planoise neighborhood in December and a man "
unfavorably known
" to authorities was shot multiple times in another nearby neighborhood of the city on Saturday night.
According to L'Est Républicain, he was a "
neighborhood kingpin
" with a "
heavy past of delinquency
".
At the end of 2022, a judicial investigation had been opened after two shootings which had left one dead in Planoise.
And between November 2019 and March 2020, two rival gangs clashed for control of drug trafficking in this district: 18 shootings left one dead and 11 injured.
