Three ministers to take stock of the fight against narcotics. This Wednesday, Gérald Darmanin (Interior), Gabriel Attal (Public Accounts) and Eric Dupond-Moretti (Justice) unveiled with great fanfare the record figures for seizures made last year by the French authorities. A total of 156.7 tons of drugs fell into their hands, including 128 tons of cannabis and 27 tons of cocaine.
A flattering assessment that the government puts on the account of a joint work of the three ministries. They particularly underlined the effectiveness of the Anti-Narcotics Office (Ofast), which was launched on 1is January 2020, and which is a “model structure for coordination”, in the words of Gabriel Attal.
Fel Ports
Despite these good results, the ministers insisted on the growing threat posed by drug trafficking, pointing to the particularly critical situation in the Netherlands and Belgium, where criminal networks – in particular the Mocro Maffia from Morocco – threaten ministers or judges and plague the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam.
Gérald Darmanin recalled that “80% of cocaine arrives by sea” and announced an increase in resources for the port of Le Havre, a major entry point for drugs into France. Today, this port area has less than one policeman for every ton of narcotics. The Minister of the Interior has promised to triple the judicial police officers in Le Havre. They will be 25 at the end of this year.
Customs inspection rights
On the side of Bercy, in charge of Customs, the year 2023 will be marked by an important reform in connection with the fight against drug trafficking: that of article 60 of the Customs Code, which defines the conditions of the right of visit. This fundamental article for seizures, which has not been revised since 1948, was called into question by the Constitutional Council in September. The government is required to rewrite it before 1is September, to prevent attacks on the freedom to come and go and on privacy.
This Wednesday, Gabriel Attal indicated that a text would be presented in April and that it would give rise to a bill. “We will not give up the right of inspection by customs officers,” he insisted.
Detection equipment
The Minister of Public Accounts also announced that he would allocate an additional 45 million euros to Customs for drug detection equipment in order to prevent a “white tsunami” in France.
Gabriel Attal, who has just returned from the United States where he went to see a customs fraud repression center using drones and artificial intelligence tools, wants to draw inspiration from these methods and strengthen cooperation between Customs and the police in borders, without merging services. He also indicated that cooperation between France and the United States in the fight against drugs would be strengthened.
This visit across the Atlantic gave him the opportunity to discuss the threat posed by new synthetic drugs and in particular Fentanyl, which is wreaking havoc in the United States. “At this stage, there have not yet been many seizures in France, but it is a real risk,” he warned. This subject will be included in the new anti-narcotics plan next year.