A little more than three months after the machine-gunning of a van carrying the staff of the rapper SCH, outside a nightclub in Hérault, the organized and specialized crime division (DCOS) of Marseille and the gendarmes from the Montpellier research section arrested 21 people this morning of December 2, according to information from our colleagues at Parisian confirmed from a source close to the case.
Like almost every week now, the dragnet focused on people suspected of belonging to the DZ Mafia. Since the first days of the investigation, the Marseille drug trafficking group, now focused on extortion, was suspected of being behind the attack on the van which cost the life of a close friend of SCH.
Half a dozen suspects already in prison
Once again, many of the investigators' targets were already behind bars. According to consistent sources, six of the people taken into custody this Monday were already incarcerated for other crimes, including one of the main executives of the organization.
The twenty people now in police custody are suspected of having taken part to varying degrees in the commando operation carried out on the morning of August 26 in La Grande-Motte. While the rapper SCH had already returned to his hotel, after a showcase at the “La Dune” nightclub, around 5:45 a.m., several hooded men had cut the road and opened fire with a Kalashnikov on the Mercedes van which was bringing back some of the staff of the artist. The 7.62mm shots, grouped in the windshield, fatally hit the front passenger of the van, a close friend of SCH, and seriously injured the driver. A few hours later, the commando's vehicle, a Range Rover registered in Bouches-du-Rhône, was found in the town of Lunel.
During his hearing, the successful Marseille rapper told the police that he had been the victim of attempted extortion for several months by individuals who had demanded at least €300,000 from him. A pressure which would have pushed the artist to settle in the Paris region. After the attack on his team, he was also forced to cancel several concerts this summer for security reasons. The case of SCH is not isolated, however; for months, the police have been hearing rumors of extortion targeting artists, mainly in the rap world. “It concerns almost all rapperssummarizes a police source, but until now, it has not materialized in procedure.”
The custody of suspects arrested this Monday morning could extend until Friday.
