More than eight months after the assassination in a Spanish seaside resort of two French people linked to Marseille drug banditry, thirteen people apparently linked to a well-known clan in Marseille were arrested, the prosecution announced on Friday.
France's second city was at the heart of a bloody battle in 2023 between two gangs vying for the cities' lucrative drug sales outlets, the DZ mafia and Yoda, causing around fifty deaths in total, a dark record.
On May 3, two French people known for drug trafficking were shot dead with assault rifles in Salou, south of Tarragona.
“
Given the victims' link with Marseille narcobanditism
”, an investigation was launched between the French and Spanish police, details Nicolas Bessone, the public prosecutor of Marseille, who will hold a press conference Monday afternoon on this case .
These investigations led to a dragnet where “
the suspects are believed to be affiliated with the Marseille criminal organization of the DZ Mafia
”, adds Nicolas Bessone.
The shadow of the rivalry between the DZ Mafia and Yoda
Did the victims belong to the rival Yoda clan?
Did this double homicide abroad trigger the surge of violence that followed in Marseille?
Response Monday during the press point where the prosecution, the Central Office for the Fight against Organized Crime (OCLCO) and the Marseille judicial police will announce possible prosecutions following these arrests.
A representative of the General Criminal Investigation Commission of Catalonia will also be present at this press conference.
In 2023, 73% of narchomicides or attempted gang homicides organized in Marseille were a priori linked to this dispute between DZ Mafia and Yoda, with a “
very strong peak
” in August, the prosecutor indicated in December in his annual report .
“
Most of our business takes us to Spain
”, even if “
there are also people who are hidden in Morocco or the United Arab Emirates
”, recalled the Bouches-du-Rhône police chief, Frédérique Camilleri, in an interview with AFP in December, advocating international police cooperation in these cases.
At the end of December, an alleged prominent member of the DZ Mafia had already been arrested in another Spanish resort, Lloret del Mar, on suspicion of being involved in an assassination attempt.
Spain is one of the drug import routes into Europe.
It is also a favorite vacation spot for Marseille delinquency, according to police sources.