A column of gendarmes skirting the walls, a palpable tension, an explosion and screams. We are used to these images showing in action the GIGN, the intervention group of the national gendarmerie. But before these high-risk interventions, many preparations are made upstream. A TF1 team was able to take a look behind the scenes.
From the ultra-secret GIGN workshop to the work of observations and research by its men, the exclusive 20H report at the top of this article allows you to discover the different stages leading to the intervention of this elite unit.
It all started in the GIGN workshop, which opened its doors for the first time to a television crew. Three gendarmes work there, create and modify equipment. The only limit is their imagination. Work in wood and metal rubs shoulders with sewing. Cutting-edge technology comes with more life-like camouflage tricks.
This is the case, for example, with a resin wood stump, completely hollow, but hyper realistic, allowing a camera to be hidden. This spy trunk will then be placed on observation sites, camouflaged in the background in order to collect information and monitor suspects.
Shadow work which then helps agents in the field to lead to arrests. Until the last second, the target must ignore that it has been in the unit’s sights, often for months. The surprise effect is capital. But to keep it, the GIGN is endowed with many other means, which will remain secret until the last second.