“There are 2,000 people linked to the Marseille mafia indicted and 900 people detained before trial,” according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez

The Ministers of the Interior and Justice will travel to Marseille on Thursday to meet with various parties involved in the fight against drug trafficking.

The Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, predicted on Thursday, November 20 that “threat” drug trafficking is “at least equal to terrorism” in France, during a trip to Marseille, still in shock after the murder of Mehdi Kessaci.

Together with his colleague from the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, the Minister of Justice was at police headquarters to meet with all senior judges but also those responsible for security in Bouches-du-Rhône, to discuss the rampant drug trafficking networks in France’s second largest city, especially the DZ Mafia.

“What happens at the DZ Mafia level affects at least ten other departments, especially in the south of France.“, insisted Gérald Darmanin. “We have other criminal networks that we are fighting with the greatest force, and I hope that, thanks to the drug trafficking law (…), it will be possible to respond to a very deadly threat, and one that is at least equivalent to the threat of terrorism on national territory”he added.

The minister predicted that the authorities would win “difficult” A “a very, very tough battle against a criminal organization that is undoubtedly making five to six billion euros in cash”. Referring to the DZ Mafia, the Minister of Justice emphasized this “thirty people managing” protean tissue this, that “almost all of them, 27 in this case”, detained in a French prison. He detailed that 21 people were in the Vendin-le-Vieil (Pas-de-Calais) security house, while “some others” will be placed in “a high-security district that didn’t exist before.”

Gérald Darmanin promised new reinforcements in Marseille, particularly judges and clerks, without giving figures. “We also need to know how to eradicate corruption, which has an impact on investigative services, and may also have an impact on the courts”he warned, referring to “Around ten investigations were opened into agents who may have been corrupt, and who provided information to criminal organizations.”

The murder of Mehdi Kessaci in broad daylight, a week ago, paralyzed Marseille. Justice is studying his tracks“crime of intimidation” targeting his brother Amine Kessaci, an environmental activist deeply committed to fighting drug trafficking. “We are very aware that we need to do more”admitted the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, considering the murder of Mehdi Kessaci was “crimes that aim to frighten and aim to achieve a place in the Republic and the State”.