INFO Europe 1 - Drug trafficking: the intensification of “Place Net” operations begins this Monday

William Molinié 7:24 a.m., January 29, 2024

This was an announcement from Emmanuel Macron during his press conference at the Élysée on January 17. One of the rare responses provided by the president to the proliferation of drug trafficking in France and the degraded security situation. In front of journalists, the President of the Republic promised that from now on, ten “Clean Square” operations will have to take place every week in the territory. Over the past six months, there have been around sixty of these operations. And according to information from Europe 1, the intensification of the system begins this Monday. 

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Send “blue to the streets”

In detail, the “Place Net” operations are not dismantling of deal points, but much broader operations which target drug traffickers of course, but not only. Beauvau's instructions to the prefects are to intensify controls on squats, building lobbies, but also businesses which can serve as a rear base for drug trafficking. In short, shelling an entire neighborhood for a week.

The goal is to send “blue to the streets”, to reduce the feeling of insecurity. Except that these operations mobilize a lot of resources, sometimes more than a hundred police officers for fairly poor results in terms of seizures or arrests.

Traffic that adapts

“It’s the little hands that we bring down, not the network heads,” comments a police officer. Especially as traffic transforms and adapts. Thus, when the police occupy a deal point, the transactions go through home delivery people. By the time the police leave the area, generally after a few days, and the dealers reclaim their places of sale at the foot of the towers.