With 47 dead and 118 injured so far, drug banditry is making 2023 a dark year in Marseille, with never before so much blood being shed at the city’s hundred or so drug sales outlets. A “a level never reached historically”said prosecutor Nicolas Bessone, who carried out an analysis on Thursday, December 21st “This very sharp increase in drug-related murders », these murders are related to drug trafficking. Their number has more than doubled in three years; In 2020, assault rifles in the hands of criminal gangs claimed twenty lives.

Observed for several years now, “A very strong rejuvenation” of the victims and perpetrators of these attacks is anchored in this phenomenon. Seven miners were killed and eighteen others were injured. As for the perpetrators, of the 56 people charged with murder by an organized gang or attempted murder, six are minors and 51% are between 18 and 21 years old. Like two young men, one 18, the other 19, contract killers who were arrested in flagrante delicto earlier this year, “without previous history in proportion to the seriousness of the matter”lamented Mr. Bessone.

Using a typology of victims, the prosecutor identifies four categories: drug traffickers who belong to a criminal group, young excursionists and salesmen who are shot with machine guns with a view to a deal, and targeted residents of cities that are logically… “narcoterrorism”We are trying to appropriate the existing network and ultimately so-called collateral victims, which explains why three women will be among the dead in 2023.

Young people pay a high price

The category of jobbers, those small hands recruited by Marseille traffickers on social networks, is rapidly increasing. These young people who give in to the illusion of easy money pay a heavy price, like this 16-year-old teenager from Savoy, who was killed on November 13th as part of the so-called “Drive de La Bricarde” drug plot. He died just four hours after arriving in Marseille and recovering at Saint-Charles train station “Taxi” of the network. When he left his mother in the morning, the young man said to her: ” Until tonight ! “ The Marseille prosecutor’s office is considering effective messages on social networks Discourage would-be drug dealers from coming to Marseille by making them aware of the risks they face.

The proportion of women, and this is new, is also increasing within the Marseille drug bandits, as four have been charged with criminal association with the intent to commit crimes. “Women used to act as nannies for money, drugs and weapons. Today we see that they appear to be playing a more active role in managing deal points and in organizing and promoting assassinations.” » According to the public prosecutor’s office, women who are ready for action can now replace a companion on the run or in prison.

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