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Video length: 110 min
Correspondent
Contents: “Cigarettes: trafficking is a hit”, “My homemade house”, “Iran: the truths of an ex-hostage”, “Children in the hell of Gaza”.
Cigarette trafficking is exploding in France. According to a study dating from 2020, more than one in ten cigarettes smoked in France comes from the parallel market. For traffickers, cigarettes have become the miracle product: they bring in big profits and in the event of arrest, the risk is always almost zero… However, the police and customs services make life difficult for these traffickers. This is evidenced by the 650 tonnes of tobacco and cigarettes seized in 2022, compared to 180 tonnes in 2020. But nothing is happening, this trafficking is booming. And it is increasing with the new increases in the price of a pack of cigarettes, decided by the government.
What is this “parallel market”? Who benefits? First, networks of manufacturers of counterfeit cigarettes purchased at low prices in Eastern European countries and resold in France. But there are also these ordinary French people who go to Belgium, Luxembourg or Spain to buy several hundred kilos of tobacco with the aim of reselling them to other individuals, making a comfortable margin. Alongside police officers and customs officers, but also by meeting these traffickers, “Special Envoy” traced the entire “cigarette industry”.
A report by Nicolas de Labareyre, Pablo Rey, Victor Bachtik, Kristel Bernaud, Aliénor Adrey, Julien Dufau / Kraken Films.
My “homemade” house
Building your house with your own hands: the idea is attracting more and more French people. Each year, between 8,000 and 10,000 people embark on the adventure, or 5% to 6% of all houses built. But what an adventure! And not always successful. In Reims, Clélia and Adrien build the traditional house of their dreams themselves. Objective: to limit costs as much as possible.
In the Var, retirees are building… their hamlet of ecological houses. Some, like Damien and Carole in Normandy, choose a hybrid model: the “ready to finish” house, where the elements are brought to the site, it is up to the owners to assemble this immense construction set. But in any case, it will take them all several months, even several years, to complete their project… when they manage to go all the way.
A report by Marine Haag, Manon Descoubes, Boris Balducci and Thomas Lhoste / FTV Studio.
Iran: the truths of an ex-hostage
Almost a year ago, his face was in the news. Benjamin Brière was released alongside Bernard Phelan after three years in prison in Iran. Arrested in May 2020 by the Revolutionary Guards while traveling across Iran alone in his van, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage and propaganda. Since his return, he has tried to resume his life where he left off.
Exclusively, “Special Envoy” was able to collect the confidences of Benjamin Brière: he looks back on his three years of ordeal, on his battles to assert his rights with the administration which has no “ex-hostage” box. State”. He is also on the front line to support the relatives of Cécile Kohler and Louis Arnaud still imprisoned in Iran.
A report by Romain Boutilly, Elouen Martin, Baptiste Laigle and Adrien Bellay.
Children in the hell of Gaza
Gaza has been living under bombs and under Israeli and Egyptian blockade for six months. Entire villages have been razed, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, including humanitarian workers in this area where no journalists can enter. “Special Envoy” asked the last Palestinian humanitarians and cameramen present on site to transmit images of this war from the inside.
Our reporters also visited the crossing point between Israel and Gaza, where Israeli extremists are trying to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching the Gazan population as famine threatens. The report also takes us to meet Israeli survivors of the October 7 massacre, carrying a message of peace. In Gaza, the number of children killed pushes the UN to call for a ceasefire, and certain NGOs to denounce a potential genocide.
A report by Pierre Monégier, Baptiste Laigle, Hatem Hani Rawagh, Mohammed Ahmed, Soliman Hijjy, Fred Decossas, Emmanuel Lejeune and Frédéric Cherbite.
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