a drug trafficking figure shot dead

In a probable settling of scores, a drug trafficking figure was shot and killed on Thursday, May 16, in Dugny (Seine-Saint-Denis). This murder comes two days after a commando attack on a prison van to escape a drug trafficker.

The man killed in this town in the northern suburbs of Paris, “highly involved in drug trafficking”was identified as Mehdi Boulenouane, according to a Source close to the investigation, confirming information from the newspaper The Dauphiné liberated.

Originally from the Mistral district in Grenoble, this 38-year-old man was sentenced in 2016 to ten years of imprisonment in a vast case of drug trafficking, weapons and money laundering, in which around thirty people were tried. Suspected of being at the head of the network, he received the heaviest sentence.

According to a Source close to the investigation, the events leading to his death took place shortly before noon in Dugny, about ten kilometers from Paris. Firefighters were called to a man with head and chest injuries, according to the same Source.

“We are stunned and in a state of shock on the part of those close to us by the violence of what happened”declared his counsel, Mᵉ David Metaxas, to Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Mehdi had apprehensions since he was released, he expressed them during the hearing at the Lyon criminal court and we must believe that he was right to be worried”, he added. His lawyer confided that his client “wanted to completely step aside, retire. He leaves a wife, two children (…) and had just been released from prison.. “It doesn’t matter that he has a background, that he is known to the law, he is a man who was murdered in the middle of the street in the Paris region”lamented Mᵉ Metaxas.

A deposit of 500,000 euros paid in cash

The specialized interregional jurisdiction of Paris (JIRS) took charge of the investigation, which it entrusted to the criminal brigade of the Paris judicial police, the Bobigny and Paris prosecutors’ offices told AFP.

Mehdi Boulenouane also became known for having been placed under judicial supervision before his trial, on bail of 500,000 euros that 29 people came to pay for him in cash.

These huge cuts had aroused the suspicion of the public prosecutor’s office and led to the opening of a judicial investigation for drug laundering, non-proof of resources and criminal association. The investigation resulted in around fifteen indictments, including that of Mehdi Boulenouane’s mother.

Two days after the attack in Eure

The death of this trafficker comes two days after the violent attack with heavy weapons by a commando against a prison van, killing two agents and injuring three others to escape Mohamed Amra, a repeat offender involved in drug trafficking, suspected of having ordered murders linked to this trafficking.

Ten days ago, in Seine-Saint-Denis, two shootings in less than 48 hours left three people dead in Sevran, also against a backdrop of drug trafficking.

In its report published Tuesday, a Senate commission of inquiry paints the portrait of a France overwhelmed by drug trafficking, which extends throughout the national territory “start-up drugs nation”with a “Uberization” trafficking and an outbreak of violence linked to competition between criminal organizations.

According to the senators, the turnover of drug trafficking in France is estimated between three and six billion euros per year.

In total, 315 homicides or attempted homicides linked to drug trafficking were recorded in France between January and November 2023 in the police zone, an increase of 57% over one year, according to the police.