France, country of origin and target of drug traffickers, according to Europol study

The European police agency has unveiled a first global assessment of organized crime where the most threatening gangs on the continent are mapped. France appears above all to harbor criminals and host activities linked to drug trafficking.

This vast study carried out by Europol is a first. It details the activities of the most dangerous European criminal groups, as well as their organization and mode of action. “We now have an unprecedented image of active and dangerous networks which threaten the internal security of the Union”said Catherine de Bolle, the head of the European Police Agency, presenting the report in Brussels on Friday April 5.

More than 800 criminal networks considered to be the most dangerous have been identified. This represents 25,000 suspects and 112 different nationalities. “It’s an international environment,” declared the boss of Europol. These gangs “are agile, borderless and destructive. […] No Member State is safe. she added.

According to this report, almost half of European criminal groups are involved in drug trafficking. And a large majority of groups (86%) infiltrate legal activities to camouflage this trafficking. Although no group is named, the Italian or Albanian mafias are recognizable by their size and sprawling activities. Concerning France, purely French criminal networks are not the most numerous in Europe, however they are mainly involved in drug trafficking. France is also the target of numerous criminal activities from other countries.

The French mainly involved in drug trafficking

Criminal networks composed mainly of French people are very active in drug trafficking, particularly cocaine and cannabis, according to the Europol report. We also find French people involved in scams, racketeering and human trafficking. These criminals operate in France but also in around fifteen countries.

France, target of drug trafficking and theft

Criminal networks from other European and even non-European countries operate in France. The most active are those who traffic drugs. France is not the only country concerned, there is also Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain… According to the Europol study, drug trafficking in France is especially orchestrated by Albanian criminals, originating from the Balkans, nationals of the Baltic countries but also, outside Europe, from Turkey and Morocco.

France also suffers from burglaries, vehicle thefts and human trafficking. These crimes are mainly carried out by Romanian networks. The country is also the target of criminal networks for sexual exploitation, environmental crimes and counterfeiting.

A cross-border threat

This map published by Europol is a “message addressed to criminal networks, which is: ‘You can no longer hide'”, according to the head of the European Police Agency. But the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, for his part stressed that these gangs represent “an omnipresent threat” which does not spare, according to him, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office created two years ago precisely to fight against cross-border crime in the European Union.