It was a trip that only lasted a few hours; a short stopover that had not been on his official itinerary. French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin delivered a surprise when he landed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday, October 25, for a whirlwind one-day visit. Included were the customary meetings with French expatriates and meetings with French companies working in the field of new technologies, but also, he tweeted, "meaningful exchanges around our security and judicial cooperation and the fight against drug traffickers."

Darmanin had had to postpone a planned visit twice, first in the spring and then in July, owing to domestic protests over France's highly-contested pension reform and the subsequent riots. Officially, the purpose of the visit was his attendance at the annual meeting of the International Security Alliance (ISA), a security cooperation body that brings together 11 countries. But Darmanin also witnessed demonstrations of drone interventions, notably in response to serious road accidents.

The main goal of the meetings with Emirati authorities was to strengthen ties between Paris and the UAE in terms of international judicial cooperation. "The minister and his counterpart [Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan] emphasized the quality of the bilateral relationship," members of his staff said diplomatically. Yet for those working in the security field, this cooperation still needs improvement.

Ensconced in lofty penthouses or entrenched behind the walls of their villas, some 30 French drug traffickers have chosen Dubai as their refuge, according to specialized police services. The environment lends itself well to the supervision of criminal activities from a distance, while helping facilitate the rewards of trading in narcotics. Opportunities are in ample supply, ranging from clearinghouses and cryptocurrency markets to real estate developments of colossal size. The operations take place in pleasant surroundings, in one of the safest countries on the planet, boasting a spectacular range of leisure and entertainment facilities.

Over the past two years, however, Dubai's image as an untouchable rear base for drug traffickers has been tarnished. A handful of arrests were showcased in videos posted online by the Dubai police as a way of touting the emirates' goodwill. This was the case in 2021, when Hakim Berrebouh and Moufide Bouchibi, two "high-end" targets linked to cannabis trafficking, were arrested and then extradited to France. "This is a sign that excellent judicial cooperation is possible if you want it to be," said a source in one of France's central crime-fighting departments.

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