The services responsible for the fight against drugs estimate that the confinement has caused a reduction in traffic of between 30 and 40%, said Christophe Castaner on Friday.
"During the confinement, the traffics were strongly affected and it is estimated that they decreased by 30 to 40%", affirmed the Minister of the Interior who however warned against the anchoring of "new practices", during a press conference, at the headquarters of the Office antistupéfiants (Ofast), in Nanterre. Christophe Castaner refers in particular to the development of cannabiculture and the “uberization” of trafficking reinforced by social networks, namely orders and home deliveries of drugs.
Disorganization and tips for traffickers
This figure of 30 to 40% is an estimate that corresponds to several factors, detailed the head of Ofast, Stéphanie Cherbonnier: the drop in the facts observed, the volume of products seized, the number of people arrested or "the information that we go back on the availability of products ”. For the services in charge of the fight against narcotics, the confinement first caused a major disorganization, even a "dumbfounding" among the traffickers who quickly sought new ways of transporting products in France.
A "supply disruption" has been noted with the disorganization of the deal points, but the "delinquents have shown a lot of ingenuity", with the introduction of new resale methods. This period of breaks in the drug trade allowed Ofast to estimate 10 days stocks before a "shortage" of products. This has resulted in a "massive" increase in prices, both retail and wholesale, of the order of 30 to 60% for example for cannabis.
Intercepted cargoes
According to Christophe Castaner, the 55 days of confinement which caused a contraction in the narcotics market could have sharpened the rivalries between traffickers, which could have “awakened or exacerbated” certain territorial wars. Thus, in Rennes, the assault of a trafficker in April provoked three attempts to settle accounts, which ended in eight arrests.
However, as recent seizures of cannabis show, traffickers have continued to want to import large shipments of drugs. Thus, on the night of April 23 to 24, Customs got hold of 645 kg of cannabis in a truck, in the Lyon region.
Tuesday, still in the greater Lyon area, two “go-fast” vehicles were stopped by the police, who discovered 430 kg of cannabis and 10 kg of cocaine, testifying to a desire to quickly resume supplies.
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