The “XXL square net” operation was finally launched this Wednesday for three weeks in Strasbourg, where the police made six arrests in the morning, the Bas-Rhin prefecture has just announced. “The major objective is the fight against narcotics, but also the fight against all the consequences of drug trafficking, violence, acts of delinquency, arms trafficking or illegal work,” declared the prefect of Bas -Rhin, Josiane Chevalier, traveling in the Port du Rhin district. Neighborhood where a few dozen law enforcement officers were deployed in the early morning.
“It’s good that the police are there, and come to bring some order to the neighborhood,” says Jean-Paul, 73 years old. “But there will always be drugs, I tell you that. The police have already come in 2020, 2021, 2022, it doesn’t change anything. It’s quiet for a few days, two or three weeks, but once they leave, it will start again. I know, I’ve lived here for 23 years.”
Patrols and street checks are increasing
According to the prefecture, “250 agents on average” will be mobilized every day for three weeks to carry out “115 operations”, mainly in Strasbourg but also in other municipalities in Alsace and “in prisons”. After six arrests made this Wednesday as part of a judicial investigation for “aggravated violence”, the police carried out a “security operation”, patrolling the streets and increasing checks.
“There is a judicial police operation and behind it we visit the cellars, we look for narcotics, we remove the stolen scooters, we let the dogs through. They are not the same units,” indicated Dominique Rodriguez, deputy interdepartmental director of the national police. “The objective is to disrupt street drug trafficking.”