Stéphane Burgatt (in Marseille) / Photo credits: LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP 6:55 a.m., March 19, 2024

At a time when the fight against drug trafficking is intensifying, investigators believe that they are not fighting with legal weapons against drug traffickers.

Without mentioning the question of financial and human resources, the legal arsenal does not allow them to go far enough and fast enough according to them, and worse, the legal proceedings would work against them.

A “Place Net” operation has been taking place since Monday morning in the city of La Castellane in Marseille, a hot spot for drug trafficking in the Marseille city.

According to information from Europe 1, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin and the Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti will visit the site this Tuesday.

A partnership that is all the more important for the police because, faced with drug trafficking, the police know that they could do much better if only the legal arsenal would allow them to go further and faster.

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Take inspiration from the Italian model

There has been a crisis of vocation for the investigation services for two years now and it is not about to get better, deplores the national spokesperson for the Alliance union, Rudy Manna.

“Imagine that you have worked for eight months on a file, you have lawyers opposite you, if there is an error on it, they cancel the procedure, it’s really demeaning!”

he says before continuing.

“Many joined the police 15 years ago to carry out investigations, after being followed. Today, no one wants to do that in the police,” he says.

According to him, it would be useful to draw inspiration from the Italian method.

"They do not wait until the procedure is over to seize all the defendant's property. In France, as long as the procedure is not over, we cannot seize. You have procedures which can last up to seven years! That’s not normal either!”

he exclaims.

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“We cannot stay in this opposition”

Why not also import the repentant system to break the silence in the cities, argues Bruno Bartocetti, SGP Police unit for the South zone.

“If they want to cooperate with us, we need guarantees to protect them well, but also to protect their families. Going with a change of identity. There is still a long way to go. In any case, we cannot remain in this opposition. We must go much further,” he slips.

Investigators also express their frustration with “uber shit” stores on social networks, just a click away, yet unreachable.