Le Figaro Nice
The main theater in the fight against drug trafficking, the city of Marseille is not the only front on which the State is deployed to stop a business that is as lucrative as it is deadly.
At the other end of the Côte d'Azur, in several districts of Nice, including those of Moulins, Ariane and Liserons, the drug kingpins do not pale in comparison to their Marseille neighbors. .
As in Marseille, the networks are solid.
As in Marseille, it is not uncommon for scores to be settled with Kalashnikovs.
And as in Marseille, the authorities are doing the best they can.
On March 12, two operations were carried out by the Nice PJ and the interdepartmental judicial police service of Alpes-Maritimes in Moulins, as part of two open investigations into counts of aggravated violence for one, and attempted homicide. volunteer in an organized gang for the other.
At the end of June 2023, two settling of scores involving the use of firearms took place in this city known to be sensitive,
"possibly against a backdrop of rivalry linked to the control of drug trafficking"
, indicates the public prosecutor of Nice, Damien Martinelli.
Last Tuesday, six individuals were arrested and placed in police custody.
Searches led to the discovery of 5 kilos of cannabis, around a hundred grams of cocaine, packaging equipment and almost 10,000 euros in cash.
Five people were referred as part of two judicial investigations.
The first opened for aggravated willful violence, criminal association, transport, possession and carrying of a category B weapon (pump shotgun).
The second for attempted murder by an organized gang, transport, possession and possession of a category A weapon (Kalashnikov), as well as transport and possession of narcotics.
Requests for placement in pre-trial detention were taken for four of these individuals.
Net space operation
At the same time, a vast “place net” operation was organized in the western district of Nice, over three days.
105 people, 44 vehicles and 51 buildings were checked.
Thirteen individuals were taken into custody, notably for offenses related to drugs, receiving stolen property, violence against persons holding public authority and driving under drugs.
Others were also wanted for sentences to be carried out.
A few kilos of drugs were seized again and a little over 11,000 euros in cash.
A month earlier, on February 19 and 20, five suspects, aged 19 to 34 and all known to the police, had already been arrested by the criminal brigade in Les Moulins.
This time in connection with the murder of a 20-year-old young man, on August 6, 2022, Place des Amaryllis.
Known to the police, the victim had been shot several times with 9 mm bullets (a handgun) in the early evening.
The investigations carried out in flagrante delicto then under commission rogatory from an investigating judge had established
“that the facts were linked to the competition between several teams to take charge of the management of a so-called narcotics sales point from “the laundromat”,”
prosecutor Martinelli said.
A most profitable deal point
This almost open-air drug market recorded a daily turnover estimated between 15,000 and 20,000 euros, one of the most profitable in the Bay of Angels, before being officially dismantled on November 14 during a series of coordinated operations between the narcotics brigade and the BIS of the Nice judicial police service as well as the National Investigation Unit (UIN) and the Italian carabinieri.
Fourteen individuals were thus “locked” and some 195 kilos of cannabis, 900 grams of cocaine and 125,815 euros in cash seized.
At the end of their custody, three of the five suspects were indicted for “organized gang murder”.
One of them placed under judicial supervision and the two others held in pre-trial detention awaiting their trial.
A so-called “republican reconquest” district, Les Moulins has for several years suffered from the presence of illegal foreigners, sometimes under OQTF, who constitute the small hands of the traffic.
“
60% of those arrested in Les Moulins are foreigners in an irregular situation and 40% are minors
”, underlined the prefect, Hugues Moutouh, during an interview with
Le Figaro
in mid-October 2023. Left to their own devices when When they arrive in France, these individuals are recruited by the heads of networks to carry out dirty work and sometimes carry out violent actions, such as settling scores with knives or firearms.