Prosecutors said Friday, May 2, a series of coordinated attacks on French prisons were carried out by drug traffickers, with at least one suspect thought to have ties to a notorious cartel.
Attackers in April struck at several jails and other facilities across France, torching cars, spraying the entrance of one prison with automatic gunfire and leaving mysterious inscriptions. A total of 30 people, including four minors, were arrested this week in police raids across France. Seven of them were released without charge.
The assaults have embarrassed the right-leaning government whose tough-talking ministers of justice, Gérald Darmanin, and the interior, Bruno Retailleau, have vowed to intensify the fight against narcotics and drug-related crime. President Emmanuel Macron has promised the attackers would be "found, tried and punished."
French anti-terror prosecutors were initially put in charge of the case due to the coordinated nature of the attacks but the office for the fight against organized crime, known by its acronym JUNALCO, has now taken over. "It does not appear that these coordinated actions were part of a terrorist enterprise whose purpose was to commit offenses with the sole aim of seriously disrupting public order through intimidation or terror," said a joint statement by the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office and the office for the fight against organized crime.
"No violent radical ideology, no foreign interference – the leads that have been fully explored – could be identified," said the statement, stressing that more than 300 investigators have been mobilized. "However, the investigation has made it possible to categorize these actions as serious organized crime."
Twenty-one people were set to appear before investigating judges in Paris later Friday. Pre-trial detention has been requested for all of them, including two minors and seven already in custody.
Several of the arrests took place inside prisons, with suspected leaders of the attacks believed to have directed them from inside. Attackers left the inscription "DDPF" – standing for "Rights of French Prisoners" – at nearly all the crime scenes. A group calling itself "DDPF" on the messaging app Telegram has described itself as "a movement dedicated to denouncing violations of fundamental rights" that Justice Minister Darmanin "intends to breach."
The joint statement from anti-terrorism prosecutors and JUNALCO said that among the suspects was the man thought to be the creator of the Telegram account who is also believed to be the author of the post criticizing prison conditions. Already in custody, the man is set to be tried soon for crimes linked to drug trafficking involving DZ Mafia in Marseille, the statement said, referring to a notorious drug cartel.
The modus operandi of the assaults bore the hallmarks of organized crime, with perpetrators recruited online and promised "significant remuneration" in exchange for carrying out attacks, said the officials.
Separately, one adult and one minor were due to appear before an investigating judge in Lyon on Friday, as the offenses they are suspected of committing could not be linked to the main investigation.
On Tuesday, lawmakers approved a major new bill to combat drug-related crime, with some of France's most dangerous drug traffickers facing being locked up in high-security units in prison in the coming months.