BBC Investigation Finds French Drug Gang Recruiting Teenagers for Killings
A BBC investigation has found that the DZ Mafia, a drug gang in France, is recruiting teenage children from across the country to commit kidnap and murder. The broadcaster published its findings under the title "Inside the French drug gangs recruiting children to kill," with reporting from Marseille by BBC Paris correspondent James Waterhouse.
The DZ Mafia won a violent turf war against a rival group in Marseille, the southern port city, in 2023. A turf war is a fight for control of territory, in this case between criminal groups.
A man in prison awaiting trial, who has been implicated in several murders, told the BBC that he was part of a DZ Mafia hit squad, a group that carries out killings. He has not been convicted of the offences he is accused of.
The scale of teenage involvement in France's drugs trade has also been the subject of official figures. The French government says the number of teenagers involved in the trade has quadrupled, or grown fourfold, in eight years.
Marseille has seen repeated deadly violence linked to drug gangs. A Marseille prosecutor, the public official who brings criminal cases to court, said the city faces "savagery" after drug-related killings. In one case, a taxi driver was killed by a 14-year-old, and in another, a 15-year-old was stabbed to death.
Amine Kessaci, an anti-drugs activist in Marseille, has said he has "no choice but to fight" after the violent deaths of his brothers.
The violence has also affected businesses. The telecoms group Orange, which provides phone and internet services, temporarily closed its Marseille site to protect staff from problems related to drug gangs. A French minister backed the decision.
At the European level, France's foreign minister has proposed creating a European Union sanctions regime, a set of penalties the bloc's members could apply, to tackle organised drug crime that crosses national borders.
