Three Marseillais have been on trial since Tuesday for the violent kidnapping of a trader, against the backdrop of a turf war around a drug sales point in a city of Arles.
A file that symbolizes, for the prosecution, the ramifications of Marseille drug banditry in medium-sized towns that have long been spared.
Aged 27, the defendants deny being the occupants of a vehicle which, on July 12, 2021 shortly before 1 a.m., had cut off the road of the manager of the pizzeria in the town of Barriol, 50 meters from the point of deal, forcing him to stop before hitting him with a knife and rifle butt.
Taken to the countryside, the victim was accused by his captors of having
"talked too much"
, of being at the origin of the arrest of a
"colleague who will take 30 years"
and of the loss of two
"guitars »
(assault rifles, Editor’s note).
“Get on your knees, say your prayers! If you don’t pay, your life ends here!”
, the trader is heard saying, then taken to his home, where his attackers will relieve him of several valuable items and demand the sum of 20,000 euros.
That summer, the drug sales point in the town of Barriol, with a daily turnover estimated at 30,000 euros, gave rise to bitter conflicts between traffickers from Arles and Marseille.
Beating of lookouts, shooting with assault rifles: these actions culminated on July 17, 2021, with the death of a 16-year-old teenager in a shooting.
One of the attackers named by the pizzeria manager
Before the investigators, the manager of the pizzeria was going to name one of his attackers, the only one who had acted openly, as
"Ladé"
or
"Alain du Panier"
, a customer of his establishment, a member according to him of the Marseille team who was trying to take over the network.
The investigation took a decisive turn on July 17, 2021 with the discovery of the vehicle of the perpetrators of the teenager's assassination, the same one having been used in the kidnapping five days earlier.
Inside, the DNA of the pizzeria manager and a ticket from the McDonald's du Vieux-Port in Marseille.
The images from the restaurant's cameras led the police to Aleh-Eddine Latifi, who disputes the nickname
"Ladé"
, and Khelifa Ghalmi.
Implicated by anonymous information, conversations recorded in the team's vehicle and telephone elements establishing frequent trips to Arles, the two defendants admitted the theft of the vehicle, just a few hours before the kidnapping.
But they claim to have sold it to
“Moroccans from Barriol”
.
The pizza maker forced to sell his business
This war between traffickers,
“it’s nonsense,”
protests Aleh-Eddine Latifi, faced with the elements presented by the president of the Marseille criminal court.
Faced with embarrassing elements, Khelifa Ghalmi also brushes them aside.
Referring to his small size (1.48 m), the young man claims to have
“an inferiority complex”
:
“I have to do more than others.
I'm a big liar, I add a lot, but, there, I have nothing to do with it
.
“Ladé”
Latifi and Khelifa Ghalmi, who appear detained, are also indicted for murder for the death of the 16-year-old teenager in the city of Barriol.
Third defendant, Boina Ali-Mbae, nicknamed
“Grasdur”
, disputes having been the third man during the kidnapping, even if the prosecution makes him
“one of the main protagonists”
.
Apart from this kidnapping, the three defendants as well as a fourth man are also on trial for having extorted the manager of the pizzeria, a few months later, in October 2021, by forcing him to sell his business three times less than the asking price.
He had accepted, wanting to leave the city as soon as possible, where he felt threatened.
The debates are due to end on Friday.