France: Cell phones of drug dealers and users are confiscated
Anyone caught dealing drugs in France has to pay a flat-rate minimum fine. Now the cell phones used are to be confiscated.
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Smartphones and cell phones used for drug trafficking are to be confiscated in France in future. This was announced by France's Minister of Justice GĂ©rald Darmanin on Thursday, reports Radio France Internationale (RFI). The devices of dealers, but also of drug users, could therefore be sold before a conviction. This is legally permitted in the same way as the confiscation of cars, motorcycles or quads. Such a procedure is sometimes more dissuasive than a normal criminal prosecution. The procedure now planned for the entire country was therefore tried out in the south-western French city of Bayonne.
Blanket minimum penalty already exists
To enable the confiscation of cell phones, a decree is to be sent to all public prosecutors in the country on Thursday, the dpa news agency quotes the minister as saying. The decree envisages a flat-rate fine of 200 euros for caught drug dealers and users as well as the confiscation of mobile devices if the investigation reveals that the drugs were ordered by telephone, text message or via messengers such as WhatsApp and Telegram. The flat-rate penalty has so far been imposed on people who are caught dealing drugs involving up to 30 grams of cannabis or five grams of cocaine.
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"If a young person has an 800-euro phone and it is taken from them, they will think twice about using it to order drugs," BFMTV quotes police unionist Laurent Vitello as saying. The dpa also explains that France has declared war on drug sales points, particularly in the high-rise districts of large cities, and is cracking down on dealers with a massive police presence. They have therefore moved their business to mobile devices and are offering or delivering drugs like delivery services.
According to RFI, the measures have now been presented following a visit to a prison in the Isère region of south-eastern France. According to media reports, the prison was directly attacked with firearms and blocks of houses in a small town where many female guards live were also attacked. There is allegedly a connection to drug-related crime. These intolerable attacks show that the tougher approach "hits the nail on the head", the news channel quotes French Prime Minister François Bayrou. According to the report, further tightening of the law is planned, while an obligation to use backdoors in crypto messengers, which was also planned, failed.
(mho)
