Bloody Settlements: France’s Drug Trafficking Wars Escalate with Dangerous Consequences

In a city on the outskirts of Paris, two men were shot to death in what appears to be a settling of accounts between rival drug trafficking gangs. On Friday night, one man died and four others were injured in an incident involving the same gangs. The victims had a history of drug trafficking and violence.

The murderer fled the scene and established a security perimeter, where they found around twenty bullet casings. According to authorities, the trail of an act related to drug trafficking is being followed since the victims had a history of involvement in this field. This double murder occurred less than 48 hours after another action that is being investigated as a settling of accounts between rival gangs in the drug trade in Beaudottes, a neighborhood considered very conflictive.

In that case, a 28-year-old man died and four others were injured by kalasnikov shots from an individual who, according to the first testimonies, was the co-pilot of a car that broke into the vicinity of the parking lot of the Micro Folie cultural center.

The mayor of Sevran noted in a statement after that first action that “such an incredible outbreak of violence does not occur by chance” but those responsible are “trafficking, dirty drug money”. The settling of accounts between groups of criminals has grown in France in recent times. French law enforcement officials recorded 85 deaths last year, 20% more than in 2022, with 49 fatalities occurring in Marseilles – a city known for its gangrenous neighborhoods due to drug trafficking.

French law enforcement forces carried out a large-scale anti-drug operation throughout various black spots across the country and dismantled well-known trading places like Rougemont in Sevran. The violence resulting from drug trafficking and gang rivalries continues to be a serious issue in France.