“Hello, it’s us, we’re coming! » This is approximately the message that the Strasbourg drug traffickers were able to read, in better writing, on Tuesday morning on Gérald Darmanin’s X feed. In his post, the Minister of the Interior announced that “early this morning, 3 new anti-drug operations “Place net XXL” (had) been launched in Toulouse, Strasbourg and Nantes”.
This was officially true for the towns of Haute-Garonne and Loire-Atlantique but… much less for the Alsatian capital. Here, there is no massive deployment of law enforcement so characteristic of these new large-scale actions carried out against trafficking.
So, a publicity stunt missed by Place Beauvau? Several opposition MPs jumped at the opportunity. Still on the same social network, the environmentalist deputy (EELV) for the 1st constituency of Bas-Rhin Sandra Regol quipped: “It’s very nice of the Ministry of the Interior to inform the dealers one day in advance “Net space” operations. What professionalism. »
His colleague in the National Assembly Emmanuel Fernandes (LFI) spoke of “an XXL blunder”. “The dealers will have time to clean up their act. Serious and humiliating inconsistency of a minister,” further denounced the deputy for the 2nd constituency of Bas-Rhin.
“No hiccups”
The reality would be quite different, according to the departmental prefecture. “There was no hiccup,” assures 20 minutes Jean-Baptiste Peyrat, the chief of staff of prefect Josiane Chevalier. “We started well yesterday (Tuesday) but with other types of operations. Place Net XXL is not just a series of large-scale actions, there may be other more targeted ones. »
Still, the first arrests, “six” took place this Wednesday, at dawn. Precisely in the Port du Rhin and Koenigshoffen districts. “Over the next three weeks, 115 operations are planned, of different types and in different areas,” insists the State representative. “It has been several weeks since Strasbourg was cited among the cities that would be the subject of “XXL Net Square” and we have been working on it. Things are going as planned. »
“Colleagues were disgusted”
Really ? Police unions do not deliver exactly the same version. “Colleagues were disgusted by this announcement because it could have ruined the work they had been doing for weeks,” laments Xavier Dupin, the deputy departmental secretary of the SGP Police FO Unit. According to a police source, this led to a funny arrest this Tuesday: at 6 a.m., an individual was waiting for the police at his home and opened the door for them to prevent them from breaking it!
“The Minister’s communication is not necessarily a blunder because it could have awakened sleeping targets. Perhaps some individuals have come back to life via communications or have moved equipment,” Sylvain André, deputy departmental secretary for Alliance, prefers to be positive. Without being disinterested… “We are in favor of this type of operation but now, we are waiting for after-sales service because it mobilizes a lot of agents. We don’t want the others to find themselves understaffed. »
According to the Prefecture, “on average 250 gendarmes and police officers combined” will take part every day for the next three weeks in “Place net XXL” in Strasbourg.