Latest news with #DDPF
Arab News
03-05-2025
- Arab News
A notorious drug gang is in the crosshairs of a French police investigation of prison attacks
PARIS: Anti-organized crime specialist investigators probing a wave of attacks on prisons and prison staff in France are looking at the possible involvement of a notorious drug cartel, the Paris prosecutor said Saturday. The so-called DZ Mafia is suspected of being one of the main narco-trafficking networks working out of the southern French port city of Marseille, which has a long history as a hub for the drug trade and banditry associated with it. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said at a news conference Saturday that one of the suspected organizers of last month's prison attacks claims to have ties with the DZ Mafia. She said police investigators will examine 'the real or supposed influence of the DZ Mafia' in the violence. Several prisons were targeted by gunfire and arson, including attacks on prison workers' homes and on cars at a prison service school, in the Paris area and elsewhere, the prosecutor said. The letters 'DDPF' were graffitied on some targets, believed to stand for 'défense des prisonniers français,' which translates as 'defense of French prisoners.' The Paris prosecutor said 21 people detained for suspected involvement in the violence have been handed preliminary charges for attempted murder and other alleged crimes. French authorities in recent months have stepped up policing against drug trafficking, concerned about growing cocaine use in France and violence associated with the trafficking of that and other drugs.
Local France
03-05-2025
- Local France
France charges 21 prison attack suspects
Investigators believe the attacks 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. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told reporters Saturday that 19 of the suspects were being held in pre-trial custody, while the two adolescents had been placed in a detention facility for minors. They are accused of instigating the operations, acting as go-betweens, recruiting accomplices or carrying out the attacks, she said. The suspects, aged between 15 and 37 and including two women, had targeted prison staff "with extreme, uninhibited and premeditated violence" in both their professional and private lives, she said. Some of the suspects were believed to belong to organised crime groups, while other were "completely unknown" to police, Beccuau said. The assaults have embarrassed the right-leaning government whose tough-talking ministers of justice, Gerald Darmanin, and 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 organised crime, known by its acronym JUNALCO, has since taken over. More than 300 investigators have been involved in the case. Advertisement 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. The modus operandi of the assaults bore the hallmarks of organised crime, with perpetrators recruited online and promised "significant remuneration" in exchange for carrying out attacks, according to investigators. 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.
Perth Now
03-05-2025
- Perth Now
France eyes drug gang in probe of prison attacks
Anti-organised crime specialist investigators probing a wave of attacks on prisons and prison staff in France are looking at the possible involvement of a notorious drug cartel. The so-called DZ Mafia is suspected of being one of the main narco-trafficking networks working out of the southern French port city of Marseille, which has a long history as a hub for the drug trade and banditry associated with it. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said at a news conference on Saturday that one of the suspected organisers of April's prison attacks claims to have ties with the DZ Mafia. She said police investigators would examine "the real or supposed influence of the DZ Mafia" in the violence. Several prisons were targeted by gunfire and arson, including attacks on prison workers' homes and on cars at a prison service school, in the Paris area and elsewhere, the prosecutor said. The letters "DDPF" were graffitied on some targets, believed to stand for "defense des prisonniers francais", which translates as "defence of French prisoners". The Paris prosecutor said 21 people detained for suspected involvement in the violence have been handed preliminary charges for attempted murder and other alleged crimes. French authorities in recent months have stepped up policing against drug trafficking, concerned about growing cocaine use in France and violence associated with the trafficking of that and other drugs.
Hamilton Spectator
03-05-2025
- Hamilton Spectator
A notorious drug gang is in the crosshairs of a French police investigation of prison attacks
PARIS (AP) — Anti-organized crime specialist investigators probing a wave of attacks on prisons and prison staff in France are looking at the possible involvement of a notorious drug cartel, the Paris prosecutor said Saturday. The so-called DZ Mafia is suspected of being one of the main narco-trafficking networks working out of the southern French port city of Marseille, which has a long history as a hub for the drug trade and banditry associated with it. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said at a news conference Saturday that one of the suspected organizers of last month's prison attacks claims to have ties with the DZ Mafia. She said police investigators will examine 'the real or supposed influence of the DZ Mafia' in the violence. Several prisons were targeted by gunfire and arson, including attacks on prison workers' homes and on cars at a prison service school, in the Paris area and elsewhere, the prosecutor said. The letters 'DDPF' were graffitied on some targets, believed to stand for 'défense des prisonniers français,' which translates as 'defense of French prisoners.' The Paris prosecutor said 21 people detained for suspected involvement in the violence have been handed preliminary charges for attempted murder and other alleged crimes. French authorities in recent months have stepped up policing against drug trafficking, concerned about growing cocaine use in France and violence associated with the trafficking of that and other drugs.
03-05-2025
A notorious drug gang is in the crosshairs of a French police investigation of prison attacks
PARIS -- Anti-organized crime specialist investigators probing a wave of attacks on prisons and prison staff in France are looking at the possible involvement of a notorious drug cartel, the Paris prosecutor said Saturday. The so-called DZ Mafia is suspected of being one of the main narco-trafficking networks working out of the southern French port city of Marseille, which has a long history as a hub for the drug trade and banditry associated with it. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said at a news conference Saturday that one of the suspected organizers of last month's prison attacks claims to have ties with the DZ Mafia. She said police investigators will examine 'the real or supposed influence of the DZ Mafia' in the violence. Several prisons were targeted by gunfire and arson, including attacks on prison workers' homes and on cars at a prison service school, in the Paris area and elsewhere, the prosecutor said. The letters 'DDPF" were graffitied on some targets, believed to stand for 'défense des prisonniers français," which translates as 'defense of French prisoners.' The Paris prosecutor said 21 people detained for suspected involvement in the violence have been handed preliminary charges for attempted murder and other alleged crimes. French authorities in recent months have stepped up policing against drug trafficking, concerned about growing cocaine use in France and violence associated with the trafficking of that and other drugs.
