SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

French tax agent ‘kidnapped and killed while conducting an audit’

A French tax inspector was kidnapped and killed, reportedly while carrying out a tax audit in a village in northern France on Monday evening.

French tax agent 'kidnapped and killed while conducting an audit'
Gendarmes stand guard at the scene where a tax agent was killed in Bellecourt northern France, on November 22, 2022. (Photo by FRANCOIS LO PRESTI / AFP)

The 43-year-old tax agent died on Monday night in northern France, with local media Actu Pas-de-Calais reporting that he was killed by the man whom he was auditing, who later died by suicide.

Emergency services were called to the small village of Bullecourt in the Pas-de-Calais département of northern France at around 8pm. Upon arriving they found two men dead and a woman, reported to be another employee of the tax office, tied up.

She was not believed to be seriously injured but was treated for shock. 

The public prosecutor released a statement saying that both tax agents “were carrying out an at-home audit to check the accounts” of the local man reported to be a brocanteur (antique dealer), who then “kidnapped them and tied them up.” 

“The accused then killed himself with a firearm,” according to the prosecutor’s office. 

The mayor of Bullecourt, a small village of 250 inhabitants, told AFP that he remembered the accused antique dealer as a “helpful” and “ordinary person” who had “integrated into the village.”

Gabriel Attal, the Public Accounts Minister, issued a statement on Monday evening expressing his condolences and saying that the tax agent “was simply doing his job” and that “today, he did not return.” The minister lamented that the agent was “killed while completing a tax audit.”

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

CRIME

France launches major anti-drug raids

French authorities launched Monday several new anti-drug raids across the country dubbed "XXL cleanup operations", Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said.

France launches major anti-drug raids

President Emmanuel Macron last Tuesday launched a major operation against the narcotics trade in Marseille and other French cities, saying that gangland battles that last year left dozens dead had made life a misery for residents.

“In Marseille and other cities in France, we have launched an unprecedented operation to put a stop to drug trafficking and ensure republican order,” Macron had written on X, formerly Twitter.

He said that operations would be launched in about 10 French cities, adding that it would be an “XXL” cleanup.

According to local authorities, 900 police and custom officers were deployed in Marseille and the Bouches-du-Rhone region on the first day the operation.

In the first three days, 22 kilogrammes of drugs, over €385,000 and four weapons were seized and 71 people placed in custody.

SHOW COMMENTS