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Police arrest ‘grandad’ drug dealers

A gang of middle-aged 'old school gangsters' in Marseille has been caught with a stash of firearms, a drugs lab and two kilos of cocaine.

Published: 30 July 2012 11:11 CEST

Anti-drug officers arrested the five suspects end June in the town of Marseille. Suspects include older big shots of the Marseille criminal scene such as 61-year-old Christian Bonelli, 60-year-old Parick Mazella and 59-year-old Gérard Clar, AKA big boss.

"These drug dealers did everything to remain as discreet as possible. They are old-school gangsters," a source close to the investigation told Le Parisien. "We are far from the flashy Audis and the Mercedes traffickers usually enjoy. "

Indeed it’s under the seats of a modest Mitsubishi Colt that police discovered 2 kilos of cocaine during searches.

Police also discovered a "makeshift" lab, with a press, scales and a kilo of cocaine, in an abandoned villa in Mimet near Marseille.

The gang reportedly supplied drugs in Nice and poorer neighbourhoods in Marseille.

The five suspects were also caught with firearms, including a machine pistol and a revolver, as well as €70,000 in cash.

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French police search for gunmen after shootings in Paris suburb

Two men were shot dead near a cultural centre in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb, to the northeast of the French capital on Sunday evening, less than 48 hours after another fatal shooting nearby, according to authorities.

The victims of Sunday’s shooting were aged 35 and 31 and known for violence and drug trafficking, according to police sources.

One was shot in the head, with two suspects fleeing on foot, leaving the magazine of an automatic weapon and 18 spent bullet casings behind them.

The second man was hit six times.

The town of 52,000 people was on edge, mayor Stephane Blanchet told AFP, saying people were living in fear of another shooting.

“There is a huge feeling of fear, that it could start again and [that someone could be hit by] a stray bullet,” Blanchet said.

“If it had been a beautiful sunny day, there would have been more people outside,” when the latest shooting happened, he said.

In the first shooting, a 28-year-old man was killed on a nearby housing estate early on Saturday, with three others wounded.

In March, French President Emmanuel Macron announced an ‘XXL’ cleanup of drug trafficking in the southern port city of Marseille and other towns across France, including Sevran, where the drugs trade has been blamed for a spate of death and violence.

One drug dealing hotspot in Sevran was ‘eradicated’ in that operation, police said.

“We are aware that when we do that, we destabilise traffic, we create greed and sometimes there are clashes,” Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said on Sunday.

“But we will still continue,” he added.

Local La France insoumise MP Clementine Autain accused the government of abandoning some areas, and said the suburb, “did not have the police presence of other areas”.

Drug-related violence has often flared in Sevran – considered a hub of drug trafficking in France – with the then-mayor calling for UN peacekeepers to be deployed there in 2011.

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