Photo taken on January 12, 2012 of police officers during an operation to combat drug and arms trafficking in the city of Bassens, in the northern districts of Marseille.

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G. JULIEN / AFP

  • A heavily armed commando fired dozens of times this Tuesday in the city of Bassens in the northern districts of Marseille

  • The criminals arrested are almost all unknown to the police

  • For the director of the PJ, this action is akin to an intimidation operation in connection with narcobanditism

"We miraculously escaped much more serious consequences, whether for the police or the inhabitants," says Dominique Laurens.

During a press conference this Thursday, the prosecutor of the Republic of Marseille and the interregional director of the judicial police Eric Arella gave more details on the impressive shooting that took place on Tuesday in the city of Bassens, a city of neighborhoods North of Marseille which is "one of the five most important" stups "in the city", in the words of Eric Arella.

The members of the commando, arrested very quickly after the facts, "do not have a judicial past which attests to a history linked to narcobanditism," he explains.

Nevertheless, the action as it is committed, an action at least of intimidation or of force to go up in a city where the drug trafficking is rather important, is certainly not unrelated to narcobanditism.

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Car chase

As a reminder, Tuesday, a commando entered the city and fired several dozen bullets, slightly injuring an 18-year-old high school student, "probably a collateral victim", according to Eric Arella.

On site, around forty cases will be found, from long guns and handguns.

Then, chased by a rescue police crew, the commando fired three times, with several shots even in the direction of the police as some criminals are going to change vehicles, on an entrance slip road to the A7 motorway.

After this chase punctuated by shots at the police on their heels, the police managed to stop this commando, entrenched in an isolated villa in Gignac-la-Nerthe, near Marseille.

Four men aged 20 to 25 were arrested after the concomitant intervention of uniformed police officers, investigators from the BRI (research and intervention brigade) and the Raid.

Two other people, including a 43-year-old woman who owned the house, were also arrested.

Surprisingly, among those arrested, only two are known to the police.

This commando was however very equipped: the investigators found in the house a GPS beacon, chasubles signed by a police department, an automatic pistol, a shotgun and also a stolen car.

Two long guns and handguns were in the offender's vehicle.

Miscellaneous

Marseille: Four people in custody after a shooting in the northern districts

Miscellaneous

Marseille: A man wounded by bullets in the northern districts

  • Shooting

  • Marseilles

  • Miscellaneous