French cops verify younger males’s identities close to a drug dealing level in downtown Marseille, southern France, on 21 March 2024. (Nicolas Tucat/AFP)
Marseille – A 15-year-old boy was “stabbed 50 occasions” and burned alive this week within the southern French metropolis of Marseille in an obvious case of drug-related violence, prosecutors mentioned on Sunday.
Talking to reporters, Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone mentioned {the teenager} was murdered on Wednesday, describing the case as one in all “unprecedented savagery”.
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Marseille, France’s second-largest metropolis but in addition one in all its poorest, is suffering from drug-related violence.
Bessone mentioned that victims and perpetrators of such violence had been getting more and more youthful.
Town has lately witnessed a turf conflict for management of the extremely worthwhile drug market between varied clans together with DZ Mafia.
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{The teenager} had been employed by a 23-year-old prisoner to intimidate a competitor by setting fireplace to his door, the prosecutor mentioned, including he had been promised €2 000.
{The teenager} had nevertheless been noticed by members of a rival gang, who repeatedly stabbed him, then set him on fireplace, he added.
The identical prisoner then recruited a 14-year-old minor to hold out a revenge assault and kill a member of the Blacks gang, promising to pay him €50 000.
The 14-year-old employed a 36-year-old driver who angered the minor and ended up being killed.
The 2 newest circumstances imply that the variety of drug-related killings in Marseille has risen to 17 because the begin of the 12 months.
By comparability, a complete of 49 individuals had been killed in drug associated violence in Marseille in 2023.