Marseille: minors at the heart of drug trafficking – Franceinfo

Six days after the death of a 14-year-old teenager executed with a weapon of war, nothing has changed in the city of Marronniers, in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône). Teenagers hold a deal point, and all the entrances to the city. Dams and checkpoints have been installed. The inhabitants of the city known to the “lookouts” can pass, for the others, a fence is deployed, and identity documents are checked. Their job is to control everything, as well as to warn of the arrival of police patrols. They are paid every day for this mission. “Me it’s been a long time, I got paid 200 euros, the new ones are 120 euros a day”, confides one of the teenagers, who assures not to be afraid. “It’s nothing”, he blurted out.

The teenager lives alone in a hostel. His parents remained in Algeria. Unaccompanied minors, with family or school breaks, correspond exactly to the profile sought by drug traffickers. “They know that judicially we will not be able to prosecute them, (…) if in addition the young person is an undocumented young person, who arrives from abroad, you imagine that it is the perfect profile, since one he does not will not be prosecuted, and two it will not be returned “, explains Rudy Manna, departmental secretary of Alliance Police Bouches-du-Rhône. According to Xavier Monnier, journalist and author of the book The new sponsors of Marseille, precariousness is also an aggravating factor. “These neighborhoods are sinking into poverty. When the kid goes out in the morning, he goes up his stairs, he tries to get out of his city, the first thing he sees (…) are dealers with a lot of money “, confides the latter. In the northern districts, a deal point brings in 30,000 to 60,000 euros per day.