Rennes falls into the hard drug world

Shootings in the middle of residential towers, murders and a five-year-old child shot in the head: 2024 was a “tipping point” for Rennes with settling of scores “ultra-violent” committed by “mercenaries” coming from elsewhere, worry local authorities and stakeholders.

Despite its 37 deal points distributed mainly between four districts (Maurepas, Cleunay, Le Blosne and Villejean), Rennes and its 222,000 inhabitants had until now been relatively spared from drug banditry.

In March, a shooting with automatic weapons lasting more than an hour in the middle of the night in Blosne, “raises awareness” that the modus operandi of traffickers has changed, explains to AFP the public prosecutor of Rennes, Frédéric Teillet.

“We are now facing a phenomenon of uninhibited, very visible ultra-violence”he emphasizes. And “Our resources are not increasing to match those of the traffickers who are multiplying. »

Since March, “not a week without a homicide, shooting or attempted murder linked to drug trafficking”summarizes a police officer. “It’s been brewing since Covid but now it’s exploding. »

“There is an intensification of trafficking (…) with very structured traffickers competing for lucrative locations”confirms to AFP the interdepartmental director of the national police of Ille-et-Vilaine, Yannick Blouin, evoking a “uninhibited violence”.

The excitement became national when, on October 26, a five-year-old child was shot twice in the head. From November 1, Bruno Retailleau, Minister of the Interior, went to Rennes to announce in particular the arrival of the CRS 82, specialized in urban violence, in Maurepas.

The alleged perpetrator of the shots that hit the child (now hemiplegic) is a 16-year-old teenager, revealed Thursday the prosecutor, who announced the conviction of 22 people for violence linked to drug trafficking since July.

“Mercenaries”

In Maurepas, the CRS 82 left. “Nothing has changed, the deal points are still there”notes Pascal Lesage, 60 years old, resident of the neighborhood. “We learn to live with them. »

In clusters of three, young men dressed in black and hooded rub shoulders with parents who have come to pick up their children from the nearby primary school. A few meters further on, teenagers monitor the comings and goings near an Aldi supermarket.

“These are kids aged 16-20, fed up with social networks and violence. They don’t see themselves alive in ten years”regrets a source close to investigations into these deal points.

Les adolescents “are armed at the deal points, that didn’t exist before. But they don’t know how to shoot and when there is a shooting, they shoot everywhere, at the risk of hitting an apartment” or a child.

In Rennes, the places of sale “are still run by local (people) but the kids go from town to town”she explains.

They are often Mahorais and Guyanese, younger and younger, “with a coexistence of people based locally and mercenaries who rent their services”notes a judicial source.

Aged around thirty, a man who co-manages “for 15 years” one of « fours » de Maurepas tells AFP about winning “2,000 euros per week”.

Business is going “better and better”notably “thanks to coke”he assures.

Arrival of crack

The Rennes deal points offer cocaine that is sometimes fragmented so that half a gram costs 30 euros, a bargain price for consumers, notes Guillaume Pavic, researcher for the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT).

If for the authorities, the “tipping point” in Rennes is recent, the expert dates it back to 2016 when American drug addicts abandoned South American cocaine in favor of opioids like Fentanyl.

South American cartels then flooded the European market, particularly via the Breton and Normandy coasts.

As a result, the white powder flows into Brittany. “The effect is mechanical: prices fall, consumers increase”notes the expert.

The region presents a “good pool of customers” thanks to the presence of 350 festivals and freeparties per year, he notes. Consumption of hashish, cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine “becomes commonplace”.

Like everywhere in France, cocaine sold “is increasingly pure, at the risk of increasing consumption accidents”including overdoses, points out Mr. Pavic.

A rather rare occurrence outside Île-de-France, Rennes has had a crack sales point in Blosne since 2023.

“Selling crack means accepting that people consume it on site. This scares away other customers and it’s hell for the residents”sighs Mr. Pavic.

Three investigators

According to the mayor of Rennes, Nathalie Appéré (PS), the recent violence is the consequence of “rivalries linked to deal point control”.

On Monday, a new shooting near Le Blosne targeted a van, causing no injuries but hitting an apartment.

Faced with traffickers, “There are only three investigators for the unit dedicated to drug trafficking. They can’t keep up.”denounces Frédéric Gallet, of the Alliance union.

“We need to strengthen the teams, move Rennes into a ‘difficult sector’ so that the bonus that goes with it attracts recruits. »

Prosecutor Frédéric Teillet also insists on the importance of investigating money laundering networks. “Dismantling a point of deal is a superficial action, which must be done, but it does not strike at the heart. »

In the neighborhoods, “the challenge is to keep in touch with adolescents so that they can leave trafficking if they decide to do so”pleads an actor in the field.

“But this is only possible with young people who live in the neighborhood. Those who are just passing through, we have already lost them. »