Alexis Delafontaine / Photo credits: Magali Cohen / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP (illustrative photo)
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3:38 p.m., March 21, 2024
It is the French showcase for the fight against drug trafficking. OFAST, launched with great fanfare in 2020 by Gérald Darmanin, to whom we owe the recent arrest in Morocco of Felix Bingui, the head of a Marseille clan. However, behind this beautiful painting, the paint is crumbling. In Orly, its agents work in unsanitary conditions, so much so that deputies from the National Rally are warning on the subject.
At the foot of the runways of Orly airport, hidden in the middle of the freight zone, it is impossible to imagine that this small, unsanitary hangar, invaded by rats, and with a nauseating odor houses the offices of the prestigious OFAST. For Freddy Brossard, police unionist at SNUIPN, these working conditions harm investigations. “How do you want to interview someone in complete confidentiality, when you have custody cells where everyone discusses as they please?”, he criticizes.
Photo credits: Alexis Delafontaine/Europe 1
An “unsuitable” drug seizure box
In these cells, 400 people are held in custody each year, mainly suspects transporting cocaine. But OFAST must face another problem, that of security. Its offices are an easy target for drug traffickers, in particular the drug seizure vault, “unsuitable” according to Freddy Brossard. “It’s not something ultra-secure, up to standards. You can have a beautiful door, but if it’s paper around it, it’s complicated,” regrets the police unionist.
RN MP Edwige Diaz warns of this situation which has lasted for four and a half years. “We are not putting in the means to really fight against drugs, and we are going to hold Darmanin accountable, so that he boasts a little less and acts a little more,” denounces the elected official. No move is planned in the short term by Place Beauvau.