• Nine arrests and a seizure of 18 weapons and more than 3,000 ammunition were carried out in Marseille after an investigation into one of the largest narcotics points in the city.

  • The investigation had started after the access of violence which had known the districts of the north of Marseilles last summer.

  • In 2021, the prosecution of the second city of France identified "36 intentional homicides or attempted intentional homicides" in the context of organized crime cases.

A major blow has been dealt to narcobanditry in Marseille with nine arrests and a seizure of 18 weapons and more than 3,000 ammunition in one of the deal points belonging to the local "top 5", the judicial authorities announced on Friday.

"These seizures are significant of the dangerousness of this team (of traffickers) which one can legitimately think was about to commit violent actions", explained the public prosecutor of Marseille, Dominique Laurens, during a press conference.

Seven Kalashnikov-type assault rifles seized

Nine people, some of whom are from the same family, aged between 20 and 30 and known to the courts, were arrested on Monday and Tuesday.

Seven were indicted for "drug trafficking and criminal association", one placed in pre-trial detention and three others in the process of being, she detailed.

About twenty kilos of cannabis resin, nearly 10,000 euros in cash but above all 18 weapons including seven Kalashnikovs, were discovered in a cellar of a building in the city center (5th arrondissement) with 3,000 ammunition including 1,500 to supply Kalashnikovs .

An expensive and disproportionate lifestyle

The investigation had started after the access of violence which had known the districts of the north of Marseilles last summer, in particular within the framework of a conflict between the “plans stups” of the cities Bassens and La Paternelle.

After months of surveillance, the investigators succeeded in identifying the leaders of the network based in Bassens.

They also noticed "the expensive and disproportionate lifestyle of the main suspect", with investments in two companies created in February 2022, a vehicle trade and a bakery not yet open.

DNA and ballistic analyzes on the weapons seized may also help to elucidate some of the settling of accounts in recent months.

In 2021, the prosecution of the second city of France recorded "36 intentional homicides or attempted intentional homicides" in the context of cases of organized crime and drug trafficking.

The charred body of a man discovered in a car near Marseille

A young man shot dead in Marseille

  • Miscellaneous facts

  • Marseilles

  • Reckoning

  • Drug traffic

  • Northern neighborhoods

  • Paca