Image source, BBC Video
WARNING: This report contains offensive language and descriptions of sexual violence.
The woman had purchased charas from a drug dealer. Despite this he decided to call the police.
The reason for this was the slip which a young boy quietly handed over to her while giving the goods. It was written on that slip, "We have been held hostage and need help. We are 15 years old."
This incident took place in 2022 in a residential area of Marseille city of France.
Earlier this year, a French court was told that the teen who gave the slip was one of two boys held hostage by a gang.
Both the boys had gone to the gang to earn money
Both the boys themselves had gone to that gang to earn money. They knew that they would have to do illegal work.
A boy was given the responsibility of keeping track of the money. The other used to sell drugs on the streets of Froiss-Valon area.
But soon the gang leaders accused him of being responsible for the decline in earnings.
End
The court was told that after this both the boys were repeatedly beaten.
To blackmail them, they were forced to dance without clothes in front of the camera. A boy was also raped.
A few hours after giving the slip to the woman, both the boys tried to escape through the second floor window. During this he got injured.
One boy managed to escape, while the other was captured. He was beaten and attacked with a knife, but he survived.
Many arrests were made in this case. Pictures of several other youths were found in the phone of a man who allegedly tortured boys. In these pictures he too was seen similarly distressed and injured.
Six people have been sentenced to severe punishment in connection with the incidents that happened with the two teenagers.
Drug gangs have control over some areas of Marseille
Image Source, Social media
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The story of these boys shows how strong the hold of drug gangs is on some areas of Marseille, France's second largest city.
Beach culture, street art and hip-hop music make Marseille popular with tourists.
But as soon as you move out of the main areas of the city, a different world appears.
After several months of efforts, the BBC team was able to reach inside this dangerous world.
Drug gangs dominate the poor areas and high-rise residential buildings of this port city. Police also enter these areas with great caution.
We have seen that ruthless gangs trap the youth living in difficult circumstances by luring them with easy money.
But later these youth get trapped in a world of drug selling, violence and exploitation, from which it is very difficult to get out.
We also saw how gangs recruit murderers through social media.
We talked to many youth trapped in this world of violence.
A gang member accused of being involved in several murders has told from jail how his 'ruthless nature' helped him rise to a high position in the gang.
'DZ Mafia' among the most dangerous gangs of France
The most powerful gang in Marseille is 'DZ Mafia'.
After victory in a violent battle for control of territory, the gang became one of the most dangerous criminal organizations in France.
'DZ' is the official internet domain code of Algeria.
One of the founders of the gang is French-Algerian citizen Mehdi Laribi. He was detained earlier this year on the basis of an arrest warrant from France.
According to Dimitri Zoolas, head of France's anti-drug trafficking unit, this gang came into limelight in 2023.
He says this was the first French gang to use its notoriety to its advantage. It released video statements on social media and presented itself like a brand.
The gang's most recent statement came out in July.
Intelligence was received that the gang might target the mayor of a nearby city. After this the mayor had to provide police protection.
In the video released online, six masked men dressed in black were seen standing behind a table.
While reading the statement, one of them denied the involvement of DZ mafia in the plan to target the mayor.
The growth of the market for illegal drugs in France has also helped this gang expand rapidly.
Cannabis and chemical drugs were already sold in large quantities in the country. Now the supply of cocaine has also increased rapidly.
According to Zulas, the number of cocaine users in France may soon reach 2 million. In 2017 this number was six lakh.
He says that the drug smuggling business in France is worth seven billion euros every year i.e. about 5.9 billion pounds. About two lakh people are involved in this.
A large number of those who deliver and sell drugs are children.
Officials say that the number of minors caught in this work is increasing.
According to government figures, in 2025, more than ten thousand children were involved in drug trafficking in some way or the other.
DZ Mafia is a great example of this.
The gang needs more members to reach more customers. This means that he will have to recruit more children.
Our investigation revealed that the gang is now recruiting youth from different parts of France.
They are being called not only for selling drugs but also for kidnapping, torture and murder.
People running gangs often control these children while sitting in jail or abroad.
In their view, children can easily be lured into the world of crime. They can also be released when the need is over.
Police and judges say that once these children enter the world of crime in Marseille, it becomes very difficult for them to get out of it.
'Your son has been shot in the head'
Image source, Lea Guedj / BBC
Few people understand the human cost of Marseille's gangs better than Carine Bruyar.
She lives in the northern part of France. His house is almost on the other side of the country from Marseille, situated on the seashore.
His son Hugo ran away from home for the first time at the age of 15.
After a fight with his family, he left his village in the Nord region of northern France.
Three days later, the police caught him in Marseille, about a thousand kilometers away from home. He had money and ganja.
The police brought him back home.
But several years later, in 2023, Hugo again planned to go to southern France.
He told his parents that he had found work during the holidays at a restaurant near Marseille.
"He kept me up to date," recalls Carine. "He kept calling me to tell me everything was going well."
Three weeks later a doctor called Carine.
Carine says that she can never forget the doctor's words.
The doctor said, "Your son was brought here last night. He has been shot in the head."
Police believe Hugo was brought from an area controlled by the gang for treatment.
Police suspect that he was associated with some gang.
That area was 'Quartier Nord'.
BBC team surrounded in gang area within 37 seconds
The DZ mafia dominates the Quartier Nord.
Our best way to reach this area was to take help from Fadela Uidef, who lives there.
41 year old Fadela is the mother of four children. She took us with her to show us the area.
Just 37 seconds after entering a residential complex, we were surrounded from all sides.
As Fadela's Peugeot car passed the gang's checkpoint, car horns started blowing.
The teenagers present at the post immediately saw our camera.
"Stop, stop making videos," Fadela warned.
Meanwhile, a big gray colored car forced us to stop on the roadside.
"I'm preparing a report for my housing association," Fadela told the driver in question.
Eventually he agreed to let us go on the condition that we stop making videos.
It was disturbing to see that vehicle moving with such authority despite not being a police car. We were relieved when he left from there.
"The gangs have become very aggressive in recent times," Fadela said. "We just try to explain to our youth that what is happening here is wrong."
Fadela was talking about a great fear spread among local families.
Families fear that their children are being pushed into the path of crime by luring them with huge sums of money. This path takes away their childhood and innocence from them.
This greed for money forced a young man to spend several years of his adolescence with the DZ mafia.
We have agreed to protect the identities of the people we spoke to, so that they can speak openly and there is no threat to their safety.
'You will remain in the gang until death or jail'
Kamil told us that as he rose up in the gang, he got the responsibility of protecting an area under his control.
Now 20 year old Kamil claims that he has left the gang.
He was extremely suspicious of our presence. Still, he agreed to explain how the gang recruited underage members.
"They know how to get into your head. Whatever you want, they give you it," Kamil said.
According to him, these may include expensive cars, big houses, drugs and sex workers.
"You start feeling loyalty to them because of what they give," he says. "You stay there until the end, either until you die or go to jail."
Kamil also told that if the gang comes to know about any weakness of a new member, then what they do with it.
He said, "They will take advantage of that weakness. They will make you their slave. After that it is all over."
DZ Mafia member 'Adam' told us that he was part of a gang that was given the responsibility of killing people.
Adam is not his real name.
We spoke to him via video call on Snapchat.
He is currently in jail and awaiting trial. He has been accused in several cases of murder.
Adam said, "People saw my determination and ruthlessness. Without wanting to, I moved up in the gang."
"This became my place and I had to move with it."
During the conversation he admits that the murders he is accused of were 'pretty scary'.
"Attacks are carried out in broad daylight or during traffic jams. It can be anything from walking up to a person and slapping him, to picking him up in front of his mother and burning him in the car," he said.
"I feel that even at such times I do not panic and control myself."
We asked Adam whether he regrets committing such cruelty.
He said he felt guilty to some extent, but was not remorseful.
He says, "If I had not done all this, someone else would have done it in my place. Then someone else would have come in his place. I am just a brick in this whole wall."
Like many teenagers in Marseille, Adam knew that drug trafficking could make a lot of money quickly.
Now his age is more than 20 years. He believes that the world he entered was a 'trap'.
Drug prices written on the walls
Image source, Marianne Baisnee / BBC
There is a drug den in a housing complex built for low-income people. This area is closed and is under the control of DZ mafia.
There, the prices of cocaine, hashish and ganja are written on a wall.
This residential complex acts like a fort for drug sellers.
There is only one big road for entry and exit.
This allows the gang to monitor the movement of customers and know in advance of the arrival of the police.
इन इलाक़ों में रात के समय मशीनगनों की आवाज़ सुनाई देना आम बात है.
कई महीनों तक बातचीत करने के बाद डीज़ेड माफ़िया के विरोधी गिरोह की ओर से ड्रग बेचने का एक अड्डा संभालने वाला व्यक्ति हमसे मिलने के लिए तैयार हुआ.
हम सुबह-सुबह उस आवासीय परिसर में पहुंचे.
सुबह का वक़्त था. पक्षियों की आवाज़ सुनाई दे रही थी और बच्चे स्कूल जा रहे थे.
इस शांत माहौल को देखकर अंदाज़ा लगाना मुश्किल था कि इसी जगह पर इतने बड़े पैमाने पर ड्रग का कारोबार होता है.
'जो' बताता है कि जब वह 13 साल का था, तब हर महीने तीन हज़ार यूरो, यानी क़रीब ढाई हज़ार पाउंड कमाता था.
अब उसकी कमाई हर महीने पांच हज़ार से दस हज़ार यूरो के बीच है.
उसे लगता है कि उसकी ज़िंदगी का रास्ता जैसे पहले से ही तय था. यह रास्ता अपराध की दुनिया की ओर जाता है, लेकिन इससे उसे काफ़ी पैसा भी मिल रहा है.
हमने 23 साल के 'जो' से पूछा कि क्या वह अपने गिरोह की हिंसा में मारे गए लोगों के बारे में सोचता है.
उसके जवाब से लगता है कि ड्रग तस्करी से होने वाला दर्द और तबाही अब उसके लिए इस काम का हिस्सा बन चुके हैं.
वह कंधे उचकाकर कहता है, "यह लोगों को बर्बाद कर देता है, लेकिन हम सभी अपने फ़ैसले ख़ुद लेते हैं."
'देश की सुरक्षा के लिए ख़तरा'
ड्रग तस्करी विरोधी इकाई के प्रमुख ज़ूलास का कहना है कि 'जो' और डीज़ेड माफ़िया जैसे गिरोहों की गतिविधियां देश की सुरक्षा के लिए ख़तरा हैं.
उनके मुताबिक़, इसकी वजह से सड़क हादसे होते हैं, परिवारों में हिंसा बढ़ती है, मानसिक तनाव पैदा होता है और आत्महत्याएं होती हैं.
उन्होंने कहा कि हर साल ड्रग्स की ओवरडोज़ लेने से 700 से अधिक लोगों की मौत होती है.
उनका कहना है, "यह अर्थव्यवस्था को भी बिगाड़ता है."
ज़ूलास चेतावनी देते हैं, "हम ऐसी हालत की ओर बढ़ रहे हैं, जहां पूरी आपराधिक न्याय व्यवस्था टूट सकती है."
मार्से और दूसरे शहरों में पुलिस को ड्रग गिरोहों के ख़िलाफ़ कुछ कामयाबी भी मिली है.
अपराध से जुड़ी कई गतिविधियां रोकी गई हैं. गिरोहों के कई बड़े सरगनाओं को गिरफ़्तार किया गया है और ड्रग्स बरामद किए गए हैं.
पुलिस के मुताबिक़, साल 2024 के बाद से डीज़ेड माफ़िया से जुड़े क़रीब एक हज़ार लोगों को गिरफ़्तार किया गया है. इनमें से 600 लोगों को जेल भेजा गया.
लेकिन कुल मिलाकर यह लड़ाई आसान होने के बजाय और मुश्किल होती जा रही है.
सोशल मीडिया पर ड्राइवर और हत्यारे खोज रहे गिरोह
गिरोह अपने कारोबार को नए इलाक़ों तक फैलाना चाहते हैं.
उन्हें गिरफ़्तार या मारे गए सदस्यों की जगह लेने के लिए नए लोगों की भी ज़रूरत होती है.
इसके लिए सोशल मीडिया भर्ती का एक ताक़तवर ज़रिया बन गया है.
कोविड महामारी के बाद इसका इस्तेमाल और बढ़ गया. उस दौरान सड़कों पर होने वाली ड्रग्स की बिक्री का एक बड़ा हिस्सा इंटरनेट पर पहुंच गया था.
हमें सोशल मीडिया पर ऐसी अनगिनत पोस्ट मिलीं, जिनमें मार्से में ड्राइवर, सामान पहुंचाने वाले और हत्या करने वाले लोगों की भर्ती के विज्ञापन दिए गए थे.
इन विज्ञापनों में अक्सर एआई से बनाई गई चमकदार तस्वीरों का इस्तेमाल होता है. ये तस्वीरें अपराध की दुनिया को आकर्षक बनाकर पेश करती हैं.
गिरोह अब पहले से बड़े इलाक़े में युवाओं की तलाश कर रहे हैं.
स्थानीय युवाओं को अपने जाल में फंसाना मुश्किल होता जा रहा है, क्योंकि उन्हें पता है कि गिरोह में शामिल होने के बाद उनके साथ क्या हो सकता है.
ये विज्ञापन फ़्रांस के लगभग हर हिस्से में किशोरों तक पहुंच सकते हैं.
पुलिस का कहना है कि पेरिस, नांत और लील जैसे शहरों के किशोर भी इन विज्ञापनों के कारण मार्से और क्वार्तिए नॉर्ड की ओर खिंचे चले आते हैं.
क़ानून लागू करने वाले अधिकारियों का कहना है कि ऑनलाइन विज्ञापनों की वजह से गिरोहों में भर्ती होने वाले लोगों की पहचान भी बदल गई है.
अब कई बार ऐसे युवाओं को भर्ती किया जाता है, जिनका पहले अपराध से कोई संबंध नहीं रहा होता.
लेकिन उनकी ज़िंदगी में कुछ ऐसी कमज़ोरियां होती हैं, जिनका गिरोह फ़ायदा उठा सकता है. इनमें परिवार से जुड़ी मुश्किलें भी शामिल हो सकती हैं.
फ़्रांस की संगठित अपराध विरोधी इकाई के प्रमुख थिबॉ फ़ोंटेन कहते हैं, "बेरहम गिरोह इन युवाओं को भर्ती करके सीधे ख़तरे के बीच भेज देते हैं."
उनके मुताबिक़, इनमें से कई युवाओं का पहले अपराध से कोई संबंध नहीं होता. इसी वजह से पुलिस उन्हें आसानी से पकड़ लेती है.
'वे परिवारों को बर्बाद कर देते हैं'
कैरीन को आज भी नहीं पता कि उनके बेटे ह्यूगो को गोली क्यों मारी गई थी.
उनसे पूछा गया कि वह मार्से में बच्चों और युवाओं की भर्ती करने वाले गिरोहों के सरगनाओं से क्या कहना चाहेंगी.
कैरीन ने कहा, "वे परिवारों को बर्बाद कर देते हैं. छोटी बहनों, छोटे भाइयों और दादा-दादी की ज़िंदगी बर्बाद कर देते हैं."
"लेकिन मुझे नहीं लगता कि उन लोगों के पास दिल है."
ह्यूगो ने जिस रेस्तरां में नौकरी मिलने की बात कही थी, वह सचमुच मौजूद था.
लेकिन वहां के कर्मचारियों ने कैरीन को बताया कि उन्होंने ह्यूगो नाम के किसी व्यक्ति को नौकरी पर नहीं रखा था.
ऐसे में ह्यूगो की मौत का राज़ लगभग तय तौर पर मार्से के क्वार्तिए नॉर्ड इलाक़े में ही छिपा है.
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