Mélina Facchin (correspondent in Strasbourg) // Photo credit: Laetitia Notarianni / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP 6:21 a.m., April 3, 2024

The government continues its offensive against drug trafficking. Three new “XXL square footage” operations have been launched in Toulouse, Nantes and Strasbourg, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on Tuesday. In certain neighborhoods of these cities, often frightened residents live in spite of themselves, following the rhythms of the drug dealers.

This Tuesday, on the social network The objective is always the same: to fight against large-scale drug trafficking.

Early this morning, 3 new “Place Net XXL” anti-drug operations were launched in Toulouse, Strasbourg and Nantes: dozens of legal arrests will be carried out. Our determination to fight against drugs, their networks and their dirty money is total, far...

— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) April 2, 2024

In Strasbourg, more than 600 members of the police will therefore be mobilized for three weeks in different places in the city. Europe 1 went to the Meinau district, one of those where drug trafficking often ruins the lives of its inhabitants.

“They are here every day and everyone knows it”

At the end of the day, small groups of young people, often dressed in black, sometimes on scooters, begin to form right in front of this church, next to a school in the Meinau district, in Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin). Véronique, who has lived here for over 60 years, knows them well and even nicknames them “the herbalists”. She confirms that they are here "every day and everyone knows where they are."

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“From 8 p.m., there is a ballet of customer cars,” she describes. “So clearly, I’m not going to wander around here at night,” adds Cécile, Véronique’s daughter, with a nervous laugh. “In addition, we don’t know why, but they closed the neighborhood police station to us,” adds the latter, concluding simply: “We don’t feel safe.”

“They run everywhere as soon as there are the police”

Off the microphone, retirees tell us about their building lobby "squatted by traffickers" and "the nightmares" that this has caused in their homes. The employee of a tea room confirms the general fed up in the neighborhood.

“Every day, we see small parades of young people, they run everywhere as soon as there is police,” says this trader. “Sometimes they even try to come here, drinking coffee, to try to make a transaction,” he assures. “But I have an eye, I don’t let them settle in because then they start smoking joints on the terrace. It becomes very disturbing,” he sighs at the microphone of Europe 1.

Various drugs in many neighborhoods

As in Meinau, the police have counted around fifteen neighborhoods plagued by drug trafficking throughout Strasbourg. “We find cannabis resin and herb, cocaine, heroin and amphetamines there,” explains Sylvain André, secretary of the Alliance Police union in Bas-Rhin.

“The sale is generally done at building entrances by young people, mainly minors and first-time offenders,” he continues. The deal points are mobile, "that is to say, if we put pressure on an address, it's a bit like a weed: it grows back in another place."

If some traffickers are very discreet, others do not hesitate to display themselves in full view of everyone. “Sometimes even, in certain neighborhoods, the sale takes place in parks while mothers play with their children,” assures Sylvain André.

The border with Germany “doesn’t help matters”

One of the specificities of drug trafficking in Strasbourg is also the proximity of the border with Germany. “That doesn’t help matters,” confirms Sylvain André. “This plays a huge role because the German population comes to Strasbourg to get their supplies,” he explains. A Franco-German cooperation police unit therefore works "24 hours a day together to fight against incivility and trafficking which could take place either in France or in Germany".

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In this context, the trade unionist and his colleagues expect a lot from the XXL square net operation which will be held over the next three weeks in Strasbourg. “This will disrupt and hinder traffic,” he says. “But above all we hope that all of the individuals who will be arrested will be firmly condemned,” concludes Sylvain André.