Bruno Retailleau judged on Friday that France was at “a tipping point” in the face of drug trafficking. This outing came after the death of a teenager during a shooting in Poitiers on Thursday and after the bullet wound of a 5-year-old boy near Rennes during a chase. The Minister of the Interior is expected to make announcements during a trip to Marseille on Friday with his Justice colleague Didier Migaud.
On this occasion, 20 Minutes questioned socialist senator Jérôme Durain, who chaired a commission of inquiry into drug trafficking with his colleague Étienne Blanc (LR), whose conclusions were published in May. The two elected officials are also received this Monday evening by the Minister of Justice to discuss their joint bill on the subject.
Much violence linked to drug trafficking has emerged in recent weeks. What does this inspire you?
It doesn't surprise me, it saddens me and it scares me. When we submitted our investigation report, some people said: “You're going too hard. » Unfortunately, the news shows week after week the harmful effects of drug trafficking that we were talking about: the rejuvenation of traffickers, the increase in violence, corruption, the nullity of procedures with released offenders… This media visibility creates a political emergency, with local elected officials who are often on edge and destitute.
Behind these cases, what is the scale of drug trafficking in France?
There is the spectacular: narchomicides [homicides liés au trafic de drogue]collateral victims, acts of barbarity, large drug seizures… but the most dangerous is the least spectacular. It is the petty corruption that allows the delivery of the product, the evolution of the “criminal code” among kids without faith or law, without morals, without fear of prison, without fear for themselves… Which is also worrying , it is the diversification of the criminal's portfolio, we saw it with the DZ Mafia recently. The authorities fear reprisals against representatives of authority and politicians in the future.
Would you say that we risk “Mexicanization” as Bruno Retailleau says?
France is not yet a narco-state, but the landscape is characterized by an asymmetry, with very powerful drug traffickers on one side and a state that is too weak on the other. Drug trafficking in France involves around a hundred families, three thousand deal points, 250,000 people who make a living from it, and 3.5 to 6 billion euros in turnover. As Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said, “every man has a price”. With this financial power, there are fears about corruption and the proper functioning of institutions. The State must get its act together, otherwise we will get eaten.
Among your measures, you notably propose a “French-style DEA*”. For what ?
We have a coordination problem in the fight against drug trafficking. We need a real boss on the repressive side and a boss on the judicial side. Faced with a very rich and very structured enemy, the different services [Renseignements, Intérieur…] don't talk to each other enough. Information circulates poorly between administrations, as we saw in the Mohamed Amra affair [un rapport a pointé le manque de communication entre la police, les tribunaux et les prisons]. We also propose to create a National Anti-Narcotics Prosecutor's Office as was done for terrorism and which has enabled progress.
Should we toughen up the legal arsenal?
There is an urgency to adapt our arsenal. It was noted that unlimited money allowed drug traffickers to go through the investigation files in depth to find loopholes and have numerous procedures canceled. We are also asking to put in place the “safe file”, which makes it possible to put documents in the file away from the lawyers, without failing the defense, to avoid revealing certain investigative techniques which are then adapted drug traffickers. There is also a lot of work to be done on repentants, infiltration, indicators.
Faced with money laundering, we propose creating an injunction for unexplained wealth, when there is a clear discrepancy between people's income and their lifestyle. We must also review the prison conditions of drug traffickers, who often continue to manage their operations from their cells. We need a global boost from the State to fight crime.
*DEA: Drug Enforcement Administration is the federal agency responsible for combating drug trafficking and distribution in the United States.
