A source close to the case claimed that after a string of coordinated attacks on prisons shook the government this month, police raids across France on Monday resulted in the arrest of 25 persons. The source told AFP that the early-morning arrests occurred in Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, and outside of Paris. This month, unidentified attackers attacked a number of prisons and other establishments throughout France, setting cars on fire, sprinkling automatic gunfire at one prison’s entrance, and leaving enigmatic graffiti. The attacks have caused embarrassment for the right-wing government, whose tough-talking Justice and Interior ministers, Bruno Retailleau and Gerald Darmanin, have promised to step up the war on drugs and drug-related crime.
The attackers will be “found, tried, and punished,” according to President Emmanuel Macron’s pledge. French anti-terror prosecutors, who are in charge of the inquiry because the assaults were organized, made 22 arrests in a statement on Monday. Three more were made later in the day. The BFMTV broadcaster reported several of the arrests took place inside jails, with alleged leaders of the operations, who are thought to have ordered them from within, taken from their cells for questioning by police. The attacks were “likely” to be a part of “very serious organized crime,” according to the office for the fight against organized crime, often known by its acronym JUNALCO, and the office of the anti-terror prosecutor.
Prosecutors claimed that the investigation had made “significant progress” in identifying the instigators and potential perpetrators of the attacks, noting that they had identified approximately 15 incidents between April 13 and April 21 but that other attacks had been documented at other prisons, though connections could not yet be established. During the two-week investigation, nearly 200 investigators were mobilized.
Justice Minister Darmanin has accused people linked to drug trafficking of being responsible.
“Thank you to magistrates and law enforcement for arresting the alleged perpetrators of the attacks against prison officers and our country’s prisons early this morning,” Darmanin said on X on Monday.
We remain committed to the law and to the Republic in our relentless fight against drug trafficking.”
Darmanin has said there could be a link to his plan to lock up 200 of France’s 700 most dangerous drug traffickers in two top-security prisons.
Retailleau also congratulated the investigators, praising their “great professionalism” which “made it possible to achieve results in a very short time”.
The raids come as French parliament’s upper and lower houses prepare to vote this week on a bill aimed at stepping up the fight against drug traffickers, with a view to its final adoption.
On April 13 in Agen in southwestern France, the tag “DDPF” — standing for “Rights of French Prisoners” — appeared next to seven cars set on fire in the car park of a prison staff training centre.
This was followed by a series of arson attacks targeting cars of prison staff and other assaults. A jail near the southern city of Toulon was sprayed with automatic gunfire.
While the modus operandi of some of the attacks bore the hallmarks of organised crime, other actions were reminiscent of the tactics of the ultra-left, according to a police source.
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