French Double Murder Linked to Drug Trafficking: A Rising Tide of Violence in the Outskirts of Paris

In the outskirts of Paris, two men were brutally murdered on Sunday afternoon in Sevran, a city where just two days prior a shooting had left one dead and four injured in what appears to be a settling of accounts between rival drug trafficking gangs. The victims, aged 33 and 34, were shot to death around 6:15 p.m. local time (4:15 p.m. GMT) on the street of Snowdrop in the neighborhood Basse. The killer, who used a pistol, fled the scene and established a security perimeter where they found around twenty bullet casings.

French law enforcement officials are investigating this double murder as potentially linked to drug trafficking since both victims had a history of drug dealing and violence. This latest incident occurred just 48 hours after another shooting in Beaudottes that is being probed as a settling of accounts between rival gangs in the drug trade. In that case, a 28-year-old man died and four others were injured by kalasnikov shots from an individual who was reportedly the co-pilot of a car that broke into the vicinity of the parking lot of the Micro Folie cultural center.

The mayor of Sevran, Stéphane Blanchet, noted after the first action that such an incredible outbreak of violence does not occur by chance but those responsible are “trafficking and dirty drug money.” The settling of accounts between groups of criminals has grown in France over recent years with French law enforcement officials recording 85 deaths last year – 20% more than in 2022 – with 49 deaths occurring in Marseilles alone where some neighborhoods are plagued by drug trafficking.

French law enforcement forces had carried out large-scale anti-drug operations throughout various black spots across the country and dismantled a well-known trading place for drugs in Rougemont, Sevran’s neighboring neighborhood. Despite these efforts, however, violence stemming from drug trafficking and gang rivalries continues to be a serious issue in France.