‘The migrants are everywhere': People smugglers are winning the battle of the beach
Behind them, a crowd of 200 or so migrants are herded like cattle, waist-deep in the water, waiting their turn. The people smugglers shout and shove them into position.
More than 70 passengers are eventually squeezed on board the barely seaworthy vessel, their feet dangling over the side, ready to motor towards Dover. A French police patrol boat lazily circles the inflatable dinghy, watching the chaos unfold.
It is 6am on Gravelines beach, and all in a day's work for the smugglers who increasingly control this sweeping stretch of coastline.
All they have to do now is wade through the surf and head back unhindered towards the dunes 300 metres away to regroup and plan tomorrow's crossings.
The scenes are painfully familiar to any of the 1200 gendarmes deployed along France's northern beaches. Some told London's Telegraph they are outmanoeuvred and outnumbered by the smugglers, who adapt their tactics at pace.
'We are helpless ... there is a French expression 'donner de la tête', we are overwhelmed and don't know where to start, we don't know where to go, there are so many boats leaving,' says Marc Musiol, a French border police officer in Pas-de-Calais.
One well-placed international policing source labelled the situation a 'failure'.
Since the beginning of this year, there have been 22,360 arrivals via small boats into the UK – an almost 60 per cent increase on last year.
The numbers are rising as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer promises to 'smash the gangs' and hails a new deal with French President Emmanuel Macron to stem the tide.
But authorities here suggest the 'one-in, one-out' pledge is not worth the paper it is written on. Some also pour scorn on Macron for talking tough without following through with concrete changes.
The scene on the beaches of Gravelines this week is one replicated along the coast of northern France day in, day out, when the weather permits.
In the early hours, police patrol cars scour the 200 kilometres of coastline between the border of Belgium and the Bay de Somme estuary. Police use drones fitted with night-vision technology to scan the dunes where the migrants, mostly young adult men, will camp for the night before they attempt to cross the Channel.
But the distances make it easy for smugglers and migrants to hide from stretched authorities. Gendarmes drive beige 4x4s in teams of three, moving down the shoreline and surveying the waters for inflatable dinghies.
'We are here every night, it is always the same, it never changes,' one officer said as he patrolled a beach car park. 'The migrants are everywhere.'
The London Telegraph encountered six patrols in the space of two hours during a 3am drive from Calais towards Wimereux, a seaside commune south of Boulogne and another known hotspot for Channel crossings.
Interceptions remain scarce.
Smugglers launch simultaneous crossings from up to 10 beaches to divide police attention and resources. Pre-inflated dinghies are launched from waterways and canals dozens of kilometres from the pick-up point and sail down the coast.
The smugglers use weather apps, such as Windy, on their phones to help them plan their crossings. The apps provide up-to-the-second information on wind speed, direction and the swell.
Sentries linked to the smuggling gangs are posted in the dunes and near the camps to watch for the boats. They alert over the phone that the dinghy is arriving and that it is time for its passengers to get on board.
Musiol, the border police officer, said: 'There are always small groups of smugglers who know our beaches very, very well.'
Often carrying nothing other than orange life jackets around their necks, the migrants sprint across the beach, hoping to do so before the police have time to react. Sometimes officers do, and fire a salvo of tear gas from grenade launchers. But this is often not enough.
'You have smugglers and their friends who throw stones at the police officers to distract them and to get the migrants onto the boat as quickly as possible,' one officer said. He estimated there are only three to six police for every 50 migrants trying to enter the sea.
'We have a lack of officers and you have a huge, huge amount of the coast to monitor,' he said. 'It is not possible with the number of personnel the border police have, the gendarmerie, to monitor this entire stretch of coastline and beach.'
The camps where migrants live are even more lawless. Inside the main camp at Loon Plage, 12 kilometres south-west of Dunkirk, shootings and stabbings between warring gangs for control of the best beaches are commonplace. On July 8, a 44-year-old Kurd from Iraq was shot five times in the legs at the camp.
About two dozen armed police were deployed that day to quell the violence. The month before, two migrants were shot dead and another five injured.
Balkan crime groups have established themselves as the dominant players in orchestrating the operations, but police sources say East African gangs out of Eritrea, especially, are rivalling them.
One police source with knowledge of the people-smuggling gangs said efforts to stop the migrants were futile without a strategy to break up the wider smuggling networks.
'If you are dealing with it in Calais, you have failed, you are never going to succeed,' they said. 'You have got to look at it earlier on and deal with the cause of all of these problems.
'They are going to keep trying. A week later, they are going to give it another go. What else are they going to do, camp in Calais for the rest of their life? It's just not realistic.'
Locals along the coast, meanwhile, are fed up with seeing their coastline dominated by years of crisis and inaction.
Alain Boonefaes, the deputy mayor of Gravelines, whose remit includes the town's safety and security, admitted the problem is endemic and there is little to be done.
The seaside resort town, 30 kilometres south-east of Dunkirk, relies on tourism for survival but can experience up to 350 migrant departures in a single evening.
The mayor and many others in the town are deeply sceptical about Macron's one-in-one-out policy, agreed with Starmer during the French president's three-day visit to London last week.
The trial would allow the UK to return selected numbers of small boat arrivals to France. In exchange, the UK will admit an equal number of asylum seekers with legitimate ties, such as family.
Even the police are sceptical. 'Macron has made political announcements and not concrete ones,' Musiol said. 'We have the impression that nothing will change in terms of the police officers' work itself.
'You can put a police officer on every beach on the Opal Coast. The migrants will continue to come. We must stop this problem at the source – that is, in the country of origin.'
He said there was 'no lasting solution that could stop the problem' along the coast here and in Britain, where migrants arrived and were ushered into camps and hotels.
On Thursday morning, the London Telegraph saw first-hand the limits of the policing operation. Gendarmes fired a salvo of tear gas into the dunes 300 metres from the shore, where hundreds of migrants had camped overnight.
Coughing and spluttering, they were led out onto the beach by the smugglers, away from the haze of white smoke and towards the shore.
There they sat and waited for about 10 minutes for the 'taxi boat', launched from the west on River Aa, which runs through the centre of Gravelines and leads out into the sea, to arrive.
The majority of the migrants were young men from the Middle East or Vietnam. An Iranian family of four – mother and father, Karwan and Sara, and son and daughter, Alina and Mohammed – were a rare sight.
Sara, one of only three women in the crowd, spoke in broken English of how her family had travelled nearly 9000 kilometres from Tehran and had journeyed through Turkey and Germany to reach Calais.
She indicated they had spent 10 days at one of the camps near Dunkirk. This was their first attempt at a crossing.
Sara dabbed tears from her eyes with her headscarf, watching Alina, her pink trousers pulled up to her knees, splash and dance joyfully in the water, oblivious to the perils around her.
Karwan gave no answer when asked what had made the family leave Tehran. He waded through the water as a 'taxi boat', already filled with 50 or so passengers, drew near to the shore.
Sara and Karwan walked through the surf holding each other's hands, also clutching life jackets. Around them, smugglers bullied their human cargo into place.
Alina and Mohammed were carried on the shoulders of smugglers and handed over to migrants already on board the boats, who hauled them in. They were followed by their mother and father, who sat in the centre of the flimsy dinghy.
The passengers cheered and waved to those left behind on the beach and sailed, under a police escort, towards the UK.
One of those left on the shore was Leo, a 25-year-old aspiring engineering student from Ghazni, in eastern Afghanistan, who had paid smugglers €1500 ($2700) to ferry him across the Channel.
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He had hoped to join his sister, who had made it to the UK last week via a small boat and is living in Manchester.
'I left because of the Taliban,' he said. 'This was my first go. I will go again. I will go to London. My sister is married. The rest of my family, my papa, my mother, are still in Afghanistan.'
Leo had fled his home country at the age of 13, making his way through Iran, Turkey, Germany, Sweden, and now Calais over the course of more than a decade.
He followed the others up the hill towards the dune and back to the ramshackle, gang-ridden camp he calls home in Dunkirk.

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The Advertiser
2 hours ago
- The Advertiser
French prison for drug kingpins in political spotlight
They are France 's most dangerous drug kingpins, according to the country's justice minister — prison inmates so wealthy and powerful that even behind bars, they can continue to order assassinations, run narco-trafficking operations and launder money. Flexing his powers as minister in charge of the French prison system, Gérald Darmanin's solution to the problem is contentious. He is moving 100 inmates — men he describes as "France's biggest criminals" — into an austere maximum security penitentiary in the country's north that critics say has echoes of tough US prisons. The move is also possibly vote-catching for Darmanin, who has joined a growing field of possible successors to President Emmanuel Macron after the next election, less than two years away. In the newly reinforced Vendin-le-Vieil prison, the selected inmates will be locked in individual cells for 23 hours on most days. Largely cut off from the world, Darmanin argues, they will no longer be able to fuel drug-related violence, which has become a political issue ahead of the 2027 presidential election. "We are here to guarantee that they don't speak to the outside, that they don't continue their trafficking outside, that they don't corrupt prison officers, magistrates, police officers," Darmanin said on primetime evening television after the first 17 inmates were transferred earlier this week to Vendin-le-Vieil from other, less secure facilities. Another 12 were moved in on Thursday. France has had a long history of both notorious prisons (the Bastille) and prisoners — both real (Napoleon) and fictional ("The Count of Monte Cristo"). Still, Vendin-le-Vieil's lock-up conditions are exceptional, similar to the ultra-secure "Supermax" prison in the United States and Italy's tough "carcere duro" incarceration rules for Mafia members. Vendin-le-Vieil already houses some of France's most infamous prisoners — including Salah Abdeslam, lone survivor of a team of Islamic State extremists that terrorised Paris in 2015, killing 130 people in gun and bomb attacks. To make way for the specially selected 100 inmates — some already convicted, others in pre-trial detention — many other Vendin-le-Vieil inmates were moved out. The newcomers will be grouped in the prison's new "Section for Combatting Organised Crime," with reinforced security and regulations, and equipped with systems to block mobile phone signals and drones. Among those on the list for Vendin-le-Vieil is Mohamed Amra, nicknamed "The Fly," who staged an escape last year that killed two guards and then fled to Romania before he was captured and returned to France. The newcomers will have just one hour a day in a prison exercise yard, in groups of no more than five. The rest of the time, they will mostly be confined to individual cells fitted with holes so prison guards can handcuff them before moving them and with ratchet systems so inmates can't yank the doors open or shut when they have to be unlocked. They will be guarded by 250 wardens — elsewhere, the ratio is usually 20 guards to 100 inmates, Darmanin told French broadcaster TF1. Instead of unlimited calls with family members from prison phones, they will be limited to a maximum of two hours, twice a week — a restriction that Darmanin says will make monitoring their conversations easier. Prison visiting rooms have also been equipped with security glass dividers to prevent physical contact between inmates and visitors. Darmanin says this will prevent mobile phones and other contraband from being smuggled in. The new Vendin-le-Vieil inmates also won't have the rights accorded in other prisons of intimate time with partners and family members. Darmanin said the conditions will be "extremely hard" but are necessary because France risks "tipping into narco-banditry" in the absence of tough decisions. Critics say Darmanin is taking a gamble by grouping together so many inmates he describes as dangerous. "From what I know, even when they're placed under the strictest isolation, they're so smart that they always find ways to communicate with each other," said May Sarah Vogelhut, a lawyer for one of the prisoners transferred this week. "It's almost more like a networking club for billionaire narco-traffickers." She and others also say the tough conditions could inflict an unacceptable toll on the prisoners' mental health. Vogelhut said her 22-year-old client was a major drug dealer in the southern French port city of Marseille and was convicted and sentenced to 25 years for torturing his victims. He is appealing his sentence. Held in isolation in another prison before his transfer to Vendin-le-Vieil, his biggest concern was the glass barrier that will prevent him from hugging his mother and touching other visitors, Vogelhut said. "Like what we French see in American movies, when the person is behind a glass and you talk through a phone," she said. "I find that inhumane. I mean, imagine that a guy spends 10 years there — for 10 years, he can't hug his mother?" she said. "I think it's going to dehumanise them." First as a minister for public accounts, then as interior minister and since last December as justice minister, Darmanin has proven to be one of Macron's most loyal lieutenants. His close ties with the unpopular president, who can't run again, could work against Darmanin if he runs in 2027. But his government experience and tough-on-crime rhetoric could work in his favour with voters. Darmanin has announced plans for at least two other high-security prison units for convicted and accused drug traffickers, one of them in the overseas territory of French Guiana. Vogelhut accuses Darmanin of angling for votes and playing on: "French people's fears and anxieties". "It won't solve any problems," she said. "There won't be any less crime." They are France 's most dangerous drug kingpins, according to the country's justice minister — prison inmates so wealthy and powerful that even behind bars, they can continue to order assassinations, run narco-trafficking operations and launder money. Flexing his powers as minister in charge of the French prison system, Gérald Darmanin's solution to the problem is contentious. He is moving 100 inmates — men he describes as "France's biggest criminals" — into an austere maximum security penitentiary in the country's north that critics say has echoes of tough US prisons. The move is also possibly vote-catching for Darmanin, who has joined a growing field of possible successors to President Emmanuel Macron after the next election, less than two years away. In the newly reinforced Vendin-le-Vieil prison, the selected inmates will be locked in individual cells for 23 hours on most days. Largely cut off from the world, Darmanin argues, they will no longer be able to fuel drug-related violence, which has become a political issue ahead of the 2027 presidential election. "We are here to guarantee that they don't speak to the outside, that they don't continue their trafficking outside, that they don't corrupt prison officers, magistrates, police officers," Darmanin said on primetime evening television after the first 17 inmates were transferred earlier this week to Vendin-le-Vieil from other, less secure facilities. Another 12 were moved in on Thursday. France has had a long history of both notorious prisons (the Bastille) and prisoners — both real (Napoleon) and fictional ("The Count of Monte Cristo"). Still, Vendin-le-Vieil's lock-up conditions are exceptional, similar to the ultra-secure "Supermax" prison in the United States and Italy's tough "carcere duro" incarceration rules for Mafia members. Vendin-le-Vieil already houses some of France's most infamous prisoners — including Salah Abdeslam, lone survivor of a team of Islamic State extremists that terrorised Paris in 2015, killing 130 people in gun and bomb attacks. To make way for the specially selected 100 inmates — some already convicted, others in pre-trial detention — many other Vendin-le-Vieil inmates were moved out. The newcomers will be grouped in the prison's new "Section for Combatting Organised Crime," with reinforced security and regulations, and equipped with systems to block mobile phone signals and drones. Among those on the list for Vendin-le-Vieil is Mohamed Amra, nicknamed "The Fly," who staged an escape last year that killed two guards and then fled to Romania before he was captured and returned to France. The newcomers will have just one hour a day in a prison exercise yard, in groups of no more than five. The rest of the time, they will mostly be confined to individual cells fitted with holes so prison guards can handcuff them before moving them and with ratchet systems so inmates can't yank the doors open or shut when they have to be unlocked. They will be guarded by 250 wardens — elsewhere, the ratio is usually 20 guards to 100 inmates, Darmanin told French broadcaster TF1. Instead of unlimited calls with family members from prison phones, they will be limited to a maximum of two hours, twice a week — a restriction that Darmanin says will make monitoring their conversations easier. Prison visiting rooms have also been equipped with security glass dividers to prevent physical contact between inmates and visitors. Darmanin says this will prevent mobile phones and other contraband from being smuggled in. The new Vendin-le-Vieil inmates also won't have the rights accorded in other prisons of intimate time with partners and family members. Darmanin said the conditions will be "extremely hard" but are necessary because France risks "tipping into narco-banditry" in the absence of tough decisions. Critics say Darmanin is taking a gamble by grouping together so many inmates he describes as dangerous. "From what I know, even when they're placed under the strictest isolation, they're so smart that they always find ways to communicate with each other," said May Sarah Vogelhut, a lawyer for one of the prisoners transferred this week. "It's almost more like a networking club for billionaire narco-traffickers." She and others also say the tough conditions could inflict an unacceptable toll on the prisoners' mental health. Vogelhut said her 22-year-old client was a major drug dealer in the southern French port city of Marseille and was convicted and sentenced to 25 years for torturing his victims. He is appealing his sentence. Held in isolation in another prison before his transfer to Vendin-le-Vieil, his biggest concern was the glass barrier that will prevent him from hugging his mother and touching other visitors, Vogelhut said. "Like what we French see in American movies, when the person is behind a glass and you talk through a phone," she said. "I find that inhumane. I mean, imagine that a guy spends 10 years there — for 10 years, he can't hug his mother?" she said. "I think it's going to dehumanise them." First as a minister for public accounts, then as interior minister and since last December as justice minister, Darmanin has proven to be one of Macron's most loyal lieutenants. His close ties with the unpopular president, who can't run again, could work against Darmanin if he runs in 2027. But his government experience and tough-on-crime rhetoric could work in his favour with voters. Darmanin has announced plans for at least two other high-security prison units for convicted and accused drug traffickers, one of them in the overseas territory of French Guiana. Vogelhut accuses Darmanin of angling for votes and playing on: "French people's fears and anxieties". "It won't solve any problems," she said. "There won't be any less crime." They are France 's most dangerous drug kingpins, according to the country's justice minister — prison inmates so wealthy and powerful that even behind bars, they can continue to order assassinations, run narco-trafficking operations and launder money. Flexing his powers as minister in charge of the French prison system, Gérald Darmanin's solution to the problem is contentious. He is moving 100 inmates — men he describes as "France's biggest criminals" — into an austere maximum security penitentiary in the country's north that critics say has echoes of tough US prisons. The move is also possibly vote-catching for Darmanin, who has joined a growing field of possible successors to President Emmanuel Macron after the next election, less than two years away. In the newly reinforced Vendin-le-Vieil prison, the selected inmates will be locked in individual cells for 23 hours on most days. Largely cut off from the world, Darmanin argues, they will no longer be able to fuel drug-related violence, which has become a political issue ahead of the 2027 presidential election. "We are here to guarantee that they don't speak to the outside, that they don't continue their trafficking outside, that they don't corrupt prison officers, magistrates, police officers," Darmanin said on primetime evening television after the first 17 inmates were transferred earlier this week to Vendin-le-Vieil from other, less secure facilities. Another 12 were moved in on Thursday. France has had a long history of both notorious prisons (the Bastille) and prisoners — both real (Napoleon) and fictional ("The Count of Monte Cristo"). Still, Vendin-le-Vieil's lock-up conditions are exceptional, similar to the ultra-secure "Supermax" prison in the United States and Italy's tough "carcere duro" incarceration rules for Mafia members. Vendin-le-Vieil already houses some of France's most infamous prisoners — including Salah Abdeslam, lone survivor of a team of Islamic State extremists that terrorised Paris in 2015, killing 130 people in gun and bomb attacks. To make way for the specially selected 100 inmates — some already convicted, others in pre-trial detention — many other Vendin-le-Vieil inmates were moved out. The newcomers will be grouped in the prison's new "Section for Combatting Organised Crime," with reinforced security and regulations, and equipped with systems to block mobile phone signals and drones. Among those on the list for Vendin-le-Vieil is Mohamed Amra, nicknamed "The Fly," who staged an escape last year that killed two guards and then fled to Romania before he was captured and returned to France. The newcomers will have just one hour a day in a prison exercise yard, in groups of no more than five. The rest of the time, they will mostly be confined to individual cells fitted with holes so prison guards can handcuff them before moving them and with ratchet systems so inmates can't yank the doors open or shut when they have to be unlocked. They will be guarded by 250 wardens — elsewhere, the ratio is usually 20 guards to 100 inmates, Darmanin told French broadcaster TF1. Instead of unlimited calls with family members from prison phones, they will be limited to a maximum of two hours, twice a week — a restriction that Darmanin says will make monitoring their conversations easier. Prison visiting rooms have also been equipped with security glass dividers to prevent physical contact between inmates and visitors. Darmanin says this will prevent mobile phones and other contraband from being smuggled in. The new Vendin-le-Vieil inmates also won't have the rights accorded in other prisons of intimate time with partners and family members. Darmanin said the conditions will be "extremely hard" but are necessary because France risks "tipping into narco-banditry" in the absence of tough decisions. Critics say Darmanin is taking a gamble by grouping together so many inmates he describes as dangerous. "From what I know, even when they're placed under the strictest isolation, they're so smart that they always find ways to communicate with each other," said May Sarah Vogelhut, a lawyer for one of the prisoners transferred this week. "It's almost more like a networking club for billionaire narco-traffickers." She and others also say the tough conditions could inflict an unacceptable toll on the prisoners' mental health. Vogelhut said her 22-year-old client was a major drug dealer in the southern French port city of Marseille and was convicted and sentenced to 25 years for torturing his victims. He is appealing his sentence. Held in isolation in another prison before his transfer to Vendin-le-Vieil, his biggest concern was the glass barrier that will prevent him from hugging his mother and touching other visitors, Vogelhut said. "Like what we French see in American movies, when the person is behind a glass and you talk through a phone," she said. "I find that inhumane. I mean, imagine that a guy spends 10 years there — for 10 years, he can't hug his mother?" she said. "I think it's going to dehumanise them." First as a minister for public accounts, then as interior minister and since last December as justice minister, Darmanin has proven to be one of Macron's most loyal lieutenants. His close ties with the unpopular president, who can't run again, could work against Darmanin if he runs in 2027. But his government experience and tough-on-crime rhetoric could work in his favour with voters. Darmanin has announced plans for at least two other high-security prison units for convicted and accused drug traffickers, one of them in the overseas territory of French Guiana. Vogelhut accuses Darmanin of angling for votes and playing on: "French people's fears and anxieties". "It won't solve any problems," she said. "There won't be any less crime." They are France 's most dangerous drug kingpins, according to the country's justice minister — prison inmates so wealthy and powerful that even behind bars, they can continue to order assassinations, run narco-trafficking operations and launder money. Flexing his powers as minister in charge of the French prison system, Gérald Darmanin's solution to the problem is contentious. He is moving 100 inmates — men he describes as "France's biggest criminals" — into an austere maximum security penitentiary in the country's north that critics say has echoes of tough US prisons. The move is also possibly vote-catching for Darmanin, who has joined a growing field of possible successors to President Emmanuel Macron after the next election, less than two years away. In the newly reinforced Vendin-le-Vieil prison, the selected inmates will be locked in individual cells for 23 hours on most days. Largely cut off from the world, Darmanin argues, they will no longer be able to fuel drug-related violence, which has become a political issue ahead of the 2027 presidential election. "We are here to guarantee that they don't speak to the outside, that they don't continue their trafficking outside, that they don't corrupt prison officers, magistrates, police officers," Darmanin said on primetime evening television after the first 17 inmates were transferred earlier this week to Vendin-le-Vieil from other, less secure facilities. Another 12 were moved in on Thursday. France has had a long history of both notorious prisons (the Bastille) and prisoners — both real (Napoleon) and fictional ("The Count of Monte Cristo"). Still, Vendin-le-Vieil's lock-up conditions are exceptional, similar to the ultra-secure "Supermax" prison in the United States and Italy's tough "carcere duro" incarceration rules for Mafia members. Vendin-le-Vieil already houses some of France's most infamous prisoners — including Salah Abdeslam, lone survivor of a team of Islamic State extremists that terrorised Paris in 2015, killing 130 people in gun and bomb attacks. To make way for the specially selected 100 inmates — some already convicted, others in pre-trial detention — many other Vendin-le-Vieil inmates were moved out. The newcomers will be grouped in the prison's new "Section for Combatting Organised Crime," with reinforced security and regulations, and equipped with systems to block mobile phone signals and drones. Among those on the list for Vendin-le-Vieil is Mohamed Amra, nicknamed "The Fly," who staged an escape last year that killed two guards and then fled to Romania before he was captured and returned to France. The newcomers will have just one hour a day in a prison exercise yard, in groups of no more than five. The rest of the time, they will mostly be confined to individual cells fitted with holes so prison guards can handcuff them before moving them and with ratchet systems so inmates can't yank the doors open or shut when they have to be unlocked. They will be guarded by 250 wardens — elsewhere, the ratio is usually 20 guards to 100 inmates, Darmanin told French broadcaster TF1. Instead of unlimited calls with family members from prison phones, they will be limited to a maximum of two hours, twice a week — a restriction that Darmanin says will make monitoring their conversations easier. Prison visiting rooms have also been equipped with security glass dividers to prevent physical contact between inmates and visitors. Darmanin says this will prevent mobile phones and other contraband from being smuggled in. The new Vendin-le-Vieil inmates also won't have the rights accorded in other prisons of intimate time with partners and family members. Darmanin said the conditions will be "extremely hard" but are necessary because France risks "tipping into narco-banditry" in the absence of tough decisions. Critics say Darmanin is taking a gamble by grouping together so many inmates he describes as dangerous. "From what I know, even when they're placed under the strictest isolation, they're so smart that they always find ways to communicate with each other," said May Sarah Vogelhut, a lawyer for one of the prisoners transferred this week. "It's almost more like a networking club for billionaire narco-traffickers." She and others also say the tough conditions could inflict an unacceptable toll on the prisoners' mental health. Vogelhut said her 22-year-old client was a major drug dealer in the southern French port city of Marseille and was convicted and sentenced to 25 years for torturing his victims. He is appealing his sentence. Held in isolation in another prison before his transfer to Vendin-le-Vieil, his biggest concern was the glass barrier that will prevent him from hugging his mother and touching other visitors, Vogelhut said. "Like what we French see in American movies, when the person is behind a glass and you talk through a phone," she said. "I find that inhumane. I mean, imagine that a guy spends 10 years there — for 10 years, he can't hug his mother?" she said. "I think it's going to dehumanise them." First as a minister for public accounts, then as interior minister and since last December as justice minister, Darmanin has proven to be one of Macron's most loyal lieutenants. His close ties with the unpopular president, who can't run again, could work against Darmanin if he runs in 2027. But his government experience and tough-on-crime rhetoric could work in his favour with voters. Darmanin has announced plans for at least two other high-security prison units for convicted and accused drug traffickers, one of them in the overseas territory of French Guiana. Vogelhut accuses Darmanin of angling for votes and playing on: "French people's fears and anxieties". "It won't solve any problems," she said. "There won't be any less crime."


Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
French prison for drug kingpins in political spotlight
At Vendin-le-Vieil Prison, France's most dangerous drug kingpins will be guarded by 250 wardens. (AP PHOTO) At Vendin-le-Vieil Prison, France's most dangerous drug kingpins will be guarded by 250 wardens. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAP They are France 's most dangerous drug kingpins, according to the country's justice minister — prison inmates so wealthy and powerful that even behind bars, they can continue to order assassinations, run narco-trafficking operations and launder money. Flexing his powers as minister in charge of the French prison system, Gérald Darmanin's solution to the problem is contentious. He is moving 100 inmates — men he describes as "France's biggest criminals" — into an austere maximum security penitentiary in the country's north that critics say has echoes of tough US prisons. The move is also possibly vote-catching for Darmanin, who has joined a growing field of possible successors to President Emmanuel Macron after the next election, less than two years away. In the newly reinforced Vendin-le-Vieil prison, the selected inmates will be locked in individual cells for 23 hours on most days. Largely cut off from the world, Darmanin argues, they will no longer be able to fuel drug-related violence, which has become a political issue ahead of the 2027 presidential election. "We are here to guarantee that they don't speak to the outside, that they don't continue their trafficking outside, that they don't corrupt prison officers, magistrates, police officers," Darmanin said on primetime evening television after the first 17 inmates were transferred earlier this week to Vendin-le-Vieil from other, less secure facilities. Another 12 were moved in on Thursday. France has had a long history of both notorious prisons (the Bastille) and prisoners — both real (Napoleon) and fictional ("The Count of Monte Cristo"). Still, Vendin-le-Vieil's lock-up conditions are exceptional, similar to the ultra-secure "Supermax" prison in the United States and Italy's tough "carcere duro" incarceration rules for Mafia members. Vendin-le-Vieil already houses some of France's most infamous prisoners — including Salah Abdeslam, lone survivor of a team of Islamic State extremists that terrorised Paris in 2015, killing 130 people in gun and bomb attacks. To make way for the specially selected 100 inmates — some already convicted, others in pre-trial detention — many other Vendin-le-Vieil inmates were moved out. The newcomers will be grouped in the prison's new "Section for Combatting Organised Crime," with reinforced security and regulations, and equipped with systems to block mobile phone signals and drones. Among those on the list for Vendin-le-Vieil is Mohamed Amra, nicknamed "The Fly," who staged an escape last year that killed two guards and then fled to Romania before he was captured and returned to France. The newcomers will have just one hour a day in a prison exercise yard, in groups of no more than five. The rest of the time, they will mostly be confined to individual cells fitted with holes so prison guards can handcuff them before moving them and with ratchet systems so inmates can't yank the doors open or shut when they have to be unlocked. They will be guarded by 250 wardens — elsewhere, the ratio is usually 20 guards to 100 inmates, Darmanin told French broadcaster TF1. Instead of unlimited calls with family members from prison phones, they will be limited to a maximum of two hours, twice a week — a restriction that Darmanin says will make monitoring their conversations easier. Prison visiting rooms have also been equipped with security glass dividers to prevent physical contact between inmates and visitors. Darmanin says this will prevent mobile phones and other contraband from being smuggled in. The new Vendin-le-Vieil inmates also won't have the rights accorded in other prisons of intimate time with partners and family members. Darmanin said the conditions will be "extremely hard" but are necessary because France risks "tipping into narco-banditry" in the absence of tough decisions. Critics say Darmanin is taking a gamble by grouping together so many inmates he describes as dangerous. "From what I know, even when they're placed under the strictest isolation, they're so smart that they always find ways to communicate with each other," said May Sarah Vogelhut, a lawyer for one of the prisoners transferred this week. "It's almost more like a networking club for billionaire narco-traffickers." She and others also say the tough conditions could inflict an unacceptable toll on the prisoners' mental health. Vogelhut said her 22-year-old client was a major drug dealer in the southern French port city of Marseille and was convicted and sentenced to 25 years for torturing his victims. He is appealing his sentence. Held in isolation in another prison before his transfer to Vendin-le-Vieil, his biggest concern was the glass barrier that will prevent him from hugging his mother and touching other visitors, Vogelhut said. "Like what we French see in American movies, when the person is behind a glass and you talk through a phone," she said. "I find that inhumane. I mean, imagine that a guy spends 10 years there — for 10 years, he can't hug his mother?" she said. "I think it's going to dehumanise them." First as a minister for public accounts, then as interior minister and since last December as justice minister, Darmanin has proven to be one of Macron's most loyal lieutenants. His close ties with the unpopular president, who can't run again, could work against Darmanin if he runs in 2027. But his government experience and tough-on-crime rhetoric could work in his favour with voters. Darmanin has announced plans for at least two other high-security prison units for convicted and accused drug traffickers, one of them in the overseas territory of French Guiana. Vogelhut accuses Darmanin of angling for votes and playing on: "French people's fears and anxieties". "It won't solve any problems," she said. "There won't be any less crime."

AU Financial Review
5 hours ago
- AU Financial Review
Brits arrive with an aircraft carrier and AUKUS reinforcements
Senior Australian and British ministers will rally around the importance of the AUKUS nuclear submarine pact as a keystone for both countries' defences, as they push back against threats to the agreement from the Trump administration's review. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Defence Secretary John Healey will hold annual defence and diplomatic talks in Sydney on Friday, coinciding with the arrival of a Royal Navy aircraft carrier in Darwin in a show of British prestige and power projection.