1,357 arrests made in drug raids in France

Investigators have arrested 1,357 suspected dealers and criminals within a few days during extensive drug raids in numerous French cities.

As Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said in the eastern city of Dijon on Thursday, 751 of the suspects were already wanted by the judiciary. According to the information provided, many of them are now in custody.

"We are taking dealers out of circulation in the long term," the minister said, countering the accusation that the police actions had no long-term impact in neighbourhoods plagued by drug dealing.

The police raids, dubbed "Tidy Place" in French, are part of a strategy launched last summer aimed at eliminating the approximately 4,000 drug sales hotspots in the country.

Police officers are deployed around the clock at the relevant locations in the cities for an extended period of time. They are to arrest drug dealers and prevent them from starting up their business again a few metres away after a brief police operation.

Drug gangs are particularly active in the high-rise housing estates of many large cities in France and make life difficult for other residents.

Violent exchanges between gangs occur time and again, resulting in the deaths of innocent bystanders. The situation is particularly problematic in the southern port city of Marseille, where 49 people lost their lives in drug-related violence last year.