French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Monday that France intends to increase its efforts to contain the illegal drug trade, which has begun to get out of control in large cities, amid a series of raids in the cities of Lille and Dijon and in the areas around Lyon and the capital, Paris.
Darmanin said, after the raids that witnessed the arrest of 187 people, “Our battle against drugs and their dealers is wide-ranging. We will now double the operations that we have prepared for months to strike hard.”
Police campaigns against gangs will also continue in the city of Marseille, the second largest city in the country, where drug trafficking is widespread, where 230 people were arrested in less than a week. The raids are being carried out as part of a strategy launched in the summer with the aim of clearing about four thousand drug trafficking hotspots in France.
Police are now being deployed almost around the clock at relevant points over an extended period with the aim of arresting traders and preventing them from continuing their trade for several years after the police crackdown.
According to Darmanin, authorities in the coastal city of Marseille said that about 900 policemen and customs officials were deployed in a major raid.
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