France will start seizing drug users\u2019 phones across the country as part of a crackdown on gangs blamed for a wave of prison attacks. The move expands a trial in Bayonne aimed at stopping deals made through encrypted messaging apps.<\/p>\n
Justice Minister G\u00e9rald Darmanin said the plan was based on work by prosecutors in Bayonne, southwest France, where phones used for drug transactions have already been seized.<\/p>\n
“The law allows us to seize a cell phone, a car, a motorcycle, or a quad bike,” Darmanin told FranceInfo radio on Thursday. He said these items can be “confiscated” and sold before any conviction.<\/p>\n
“Seizures in general of money, cars, belongings \u2013 are sometimes more effective than prosecution,” he said.<\/p>\n
Bayonne prosecutor J\u00e9r\u00f4me Bourrier called for \u201ca more assertive crackdown\u201d on drug users, speaking on local station Ici Pays Basque.<\/p>\n
“Narcotics trafficking is increasingly using encrypted networks, means of communication, this phenomenon known as ‘Ubershit’ or ‘Ubercoke’,” Bourrier said. “I think it’s good policy to hit where it hurts and seize these cell phones.”<\/p>\n
Scores of attacks<\/p>\n
Darmanin made the announcement after visiting Saint-Quentin-Fallavier prison in Is\u00e8re, which was attacked earlier this week.<\/p>\n
He was joined by Prime Minister Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou and Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau. On Tuesday night, gunfire and Molotov cocktails hit a housing block in nearby Villefontaine, where some prison officers live.<\/p>\n
\u201cSixty-five acts of aggression or damage<\/a> have been committed over the past 10 days,\u201d Retailleau told reporters.<\/p>\n AFP received a message from DDPF on Thursday.<\/p>\n Read more on RFI English<\/a><\/p>\n Read also:
Prisons targeted with arson, gunfire as France cracks down on drug crime<\/a>
Overcrowding in French prisons puts justice system under scrutiny<\/a>
Young offenders drive repeat crime rates in France, study shows<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France will start seizing drug users\u2019 phones across the country as part of a crackdown on gangs blamed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[25478,13512,25480,25479,2000,299,36,25476,5471,25477],"class_list":{"0":"post-46346","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-bayonne","9":"tag-bruno-retailleau","10":"tag-crackdown","11":"tag-drug-users","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-france","15":"tag-gerald-darmanin","16":"tag-phones","17":"tag-prison-officers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114392452986550311","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}