The number of murders and attempted murders in France between known criminals in the first six months of this year has been 25 per cent higher than in the same period last year, with much of the violence linked to drug trafficking.
Over the first six months of 2022, France saw a total of 110 murders and attempted murders between criminals compared to 88 over the same period in 2021, a 25 per cent increase, according to figures from the French judicial police.
Much of the violence is likely linked to drug trafficking and criminal gang violence, as the French parliament has stated that it is concerned with so-called “narco-banditry” and the growing trend of rival traffickers attempting to murder each other, broadcaster Europe1 reports.
Alongside the increase in murder and attempted murder, France has seen kidnapping among drug traffickers and other criminals becoming more and more common, noting that some victims have even been kidnapped in neighbouring Belgium and left for dead after being brought to France.
Some incidents have even seen victims tortured after being kidnapped by drug traffickers. Last year in June, a group of four men aged between 19 and 21 kidnapped a 17-year-old and allegedly tortured the teen in the no-go Paris suburbs of Seine-Saint-Denis.
The teen tried to collect €5,000 from his mother but the woman became suspicious and called the police, who arrested the four men when they arrived a the woman’s home. The teen claimed to have been abused because he reported the drug dealers to local police.
The increase in murders and attempted murders in general have been a multi-year trend in France, with a 2019 report claiming that over a 10-year period, the number of murders and attempted murders had surged by 79 per cent.
Frédéric Lagache of the police union Alliance Police Nationale commented on the surging murder rate saying, “Violence is democratising. Law enforcement is no longer scary. Today, for nothing, for a look, it turns to fists. Pulling out a gun has become commonplace.”
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