two car garages burned, the criminal trail envisaged

Le Figaro Marseille

New destruction by fire in Marseille. During the night from Thursday to Friday, two car garages in the northern districts were burned and their vehicles destroyed by the flames. As confirmed in Figaro according to consistent sources, the fire took with it around twenty cars.

When contacted, the Marseille firefighters confirmed that they had been called to intervene along Gibbes Road around 3 a.m. in order to contain a blaze which had engulfed a tugboat and a coachbuilder. The blaze, quickly contained by firefighters, still destroyed a large part of the infrastructure located in the 14th arrondissement as well as their vehicles.

No injuries were reported following this fire which could be of human origin, a police source indicating to the Figaro that the criminal trail was favored by the investigators responsible for the investigations. “The police called me to ask if my garage was affected”explains a nearby garage owner who was not affected, but knows one of the managers targeted by the fire. “It’s scary if even now they attack us”he breathes, mentioning the case of the two mini-markets in the northern districts attacked this week with heavy weapons.

Cascading attempts at intimidation

During the night from Sunday to Monday, two individuals armed with a Kalashnikov opened fire towards the curtain of a grocery store in the 14th arrondissement before fleeing. Thirteen 7.62 mm caliber cartridge cases were seized by the police.

Three days later, a convenience store in the 15th arrondissement was the target of criminals equipped with a hunting rifle and a Kalashnikov. The manager of the place, threatened, saw his sign set on fire by these same individuals, who fled in a vehicle. An investigation for “degradation of private property by dangerous means” et “organized gang criminal association” entrusted to the interdepartmental service of the Bouches-du-Rhône judicial police (SIPJ 13) and the banditry suppression brigade (BRB) is still ongoing for this case.

The shadow of a Marseille criminal gang, like the DZ Mafia, looms over these businesses, probably targeted by attempts at intimidation. The one we now refer to as a “drug cartel” has for several months specialized in extortion and racketeering of restaurants, nightclubs and even celebrities throughout the south of France.