Panic in France as children fall victim to lethal violence of Marseille drug gangs

Warning: This article contains disturbing details from the beginning.

A group of children spotted Adel’s body on their way to school, while his parents were heading to the police station to report his disappearance. A hideous, charred silhouette, lying down, with one knee raised, as if lounging on a beach in nearby Marseille.

He was 15 when he died in the usual way: shot in the head, then his emaciated body doused with gasoline and set on fire.

Someone even filmed the scene on the beach, the latest in a horrific series of shooting murders and then arson linked to this port city’s rapidly developing drug wars, increasingly fueled by social media and now marked by horrific random acts of violence and the growing role of children, who are often forced into the trade.

“It’s chaos now,” said one emaciated gang member, lifting up his shirt in a nearby park to show us a torso scarred by at least four bullets — the result of an assassination attempt by a rival gang.

The French Ministry of Justice estimates that the number of teenagers involved in drug trafficking has more than quadrupled in the past eight years.

“I was in [a gang] Since I was 15 years old. But everything has changed now. Codes and rules – there are no more rules. Nobody respects anything these days. Bosses… start using young people. They pay them peanuts. They end up killing others for no real reason. “It’s chaos all over the city,” said the man, now in his early 20s, who asked us to use his nickname, “The Immortal.”

All over Marseille, police, lawyers, politicians and community organizers are talking about A psychosis – A state of collective shock or panic – sweeps parts of the city, as they debate whether to respond with tougher police measures or new attempts to tackle entrenched poverty.

A local lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation against her or her family, said: “It is an atmosphere of fear. It is clear that the drug dealers are in control, and they are making more progress every day.”

“The rule of law is now subordinate to the gangs. Until we have a strong state again, we have to take precautions,” she said, explaining her recent decision to stop representing victims of gang violence.

“There is intense competition in the drug trade… People are willing to do anything. So, we have 13- or 14-year-old children who come as spotters or dealers. Young people see bodies, and hear about them, every day. They are no longer afraid of killing or being killed,” community organizer Mohamed Ben Medawar told us.

The trigger for the Marseille stream psychosis Last month, Mehdi Kesasi, a 20-year-old trainee policeman who had no connection to the drug trade, was killed. His death is widely believed to have been a warning to his brother, 22-year-old prominent anti-gang activist and aspiring politician Ahmed Kisasi.

Now under heavy police protection, Kisasi spoke to the BBC about Mehdi’s death, and the guilt he feels.

“Should I have made my family leave [Marseille]? The struggle of my life will be this battle against guilt.”

Ahmed Kasasi first rose to national prominence in 2020, after the killing of his older brother, a gang member named Ibrahim.

“We had this psychosis For years. We knew that our lives were hanging by one thread. But everything has changed since Covid. The perpetrators of crimes are becoming younger and younger. He said the victims were younger and younger.

“My little brother was an innocent victim. There was a time when real thugs… had moral codes. You don’t kill in the daytime. Not in front of everyone. And you don’t burn bodies. First you threaten to shoot them in the leg… Today all those steps are gone.”

Citing today’s “unprecedented” levels of violence, French police are responding with what they call security “bombing” in high-crime areas of Marseille.

Although one gang, the DZ Mafia, now appears to dominate the trade, it operates a kind of franchise system, with a splintered network of small distributors staffed mostly by teenagers and illegal immigrants, who clash violently over the floor.

According to one estimate, up to 20,000 people may be involved in the city’s pharmaceutical industry. Last year, officials seized €42m (£36m) in criminal assets from gangs.

Video footage circulated on social media routinely shows gang members, armed with automatic rifles, shooting each other in various Marseille squares. Cities – Slums characterized by high-rise buildings and a concentration of social housing.

On a cold afternoon last week, we accompanied a group of armed riot police on one of their usual “bombing” missions.

Officers sped to a rundown apartment building in their trucks while a gang of young men at the gate immediately fled on foot. The police split into two groups and ran on both sides of the building, seeking to catch the merchants on the stairs.

“The goal is to disrupt drug trafficking points. We have closed more than 40 of them… and locked up many people,” explained Sebastien Lothard, regional police chief.

“Turn him around,” an officer said gruffly as his team pinned an 18-year-old to the door.

In a dirty basement nearby, police found dozens of vials and small plastic bags used to distribute cocaine. Later, a policeman explained that the young man they had arrested was asking to be arrested, saying that he had come to Marseille from another city, and was now being held against his will and forced to work for a drug gang.

The officers took him away in a truck.

“This is not El Dorado,” said Nicolas Besson, the city’s public prosecutor. “We have a lot of young people who are recruited through social media. They come to Marseille thinking they will make easy money. They are promised 200 euros ($233; £175) a day. But it often ends in misery, violence and sometimes death.”

In his office near the city’s old port, Besson described an industry believed to be worth €7 billion nationwide and characterized by two new developments: a growing focus on online recruitment, sales and delivery; An increasing number of teenagers are forced into this trade.

“We now see how the traffickers enslave these… young soldiers. They create imaginary debts to make them work for free. They torture them if they steal 20 euros to buy a sandwich. It is extreme violence. The average age of the perpetrators and the victims is getting younger and younger,” Besson said.

He urged local residents not to give up psychosis But instead “fight back and rise up.”

The lawyer, who asked us to remain anonymous, described a case she had handled.

“One young man, who never wanted to be part of a network, was arrested after school, forced to participate in the drug trade, raped, then threatened, and then his family was threatened as well. All means are being used to create a workforce,” she added.

On TikTok, dozens of videos, accompanied by music, advertise drugs for sale in Marseille Cities“From 10:00 to midnight,” and each product has its own emoji, for cocaine, hashish, and marijuana. Other ads seek to recruit new gang members with messages such as “recruiting worker”, “250 euros for guarding”, and “500 euros for carrying drugs”.

For some local politicians, the solution to Marseille’s problems is to impose a state of emergency and tougher rules on immigration.

“Power must be restored,” said Frank Alessio, a local lawmaker for the far-right National Rally party and a potential mayoral candidate. “We need to end the culture of leniency in our country. We need to give more freedom and power to the police and the judiciary.”

Although the ancient Mediterranean city of Marseille was known for centuries for its large immigrant community, Alessio said that “the problem today is that we are no longer able to integrate economically and assimilate. There is too much immigration. It is the number.” [of immigrants] This is the problem. In fact, the drug dealers, traffickers, guards and leaders of this mafia are almost all immigrants or foreigners with dual citizenship.”

It is a controversial claim that is difficult to verify in a country that strives to avoid including such details in official figures.

Alessio claimed that billions of euros had been pumped into Marseille’s poorest neighborhoods by successive governments to no avail. He blamed parents and schools for allowing children to get involved in the drug trade, but added that he was focused on “solving the problem, not studying sociology.”

Far-right parties have long enjoyed strong support throughout southern France, but less so in the diverse city of Marseille itself. Critics of the National Front, such as the lawyer whose identity we have concealed, accused the party of “exploiting misery and fear,” and wrongly blaming migrants for the “gangrene” spreading across all communities in France.

Philippe Pujol, a local writer and expert on Marseille’s drug trade, was also offered police protection after the killing of Mehdi Kissasi last month.

“I’m not sure if there’s a good reason for this terror. But…terrorism is taking hold. I’d rather be afraid and cautious than take unnecessary risks,” he said.

But he responded to calls for tougher police action, saying it was merely treating the symptoms of a “suffering society”, rather than addressing the causes of the problem.

Pujol described rampant poverty as a “monster” and painted a picture of a society radicalized by decades of neglect.

“The monster is a combination of nepotism, corruption and political and economic decisions made against the public interest,” Pujol said.

“These kids can be goofs when they’re in a group, but when you’re alone with them, they’re still kids, they have dreams, and they don’t want this violence.”