7.62 mm casings surrounded by spray paint or symbolized by small yellow easels. This brand of score settling with weapons of war has long since crossed the borders of Bouches-du-Rhône and Île-de-France. Just since the beginning of the summer, assault rifles or their ammunition have been slammed in bursts in Hyères (Var), Valence (Drôme), Grenoble (Isère) or even Châtellerault (Vienne) to name only these towns.
The “Kalash” has become more democratic. The latest reports on organized crime in France note that the proliferation of these extremely lethal weapons has intensified since the years 2010-2015. “Fifteen years ago, holding a Kalashnikov or similar assault rifle was a sign of power, today it is no longer an outward sign of strength, it has almost become the common weapon,” analyzes a PJ officer.
“There is an impressive but above all very practical side…”
He details: “There is an impressive but above all very practical side to the use of these guns. You can shoot from afar, that is to say not to expose yourself too much to a response from your target, in bursts therefore doing a lot of damage. You can be a poor shooter, if you spray a car you can kill three people. And those who survive are often crippled as the projectiles create very serious lesions that cause the bones to explode. »
These weapons of terror come for the most part from the countries of the East and especially from the Balkans, where the sectors have been well organized for a long time and the prices lower than before.
“It’s not wholesale traffic but small deliveries, sometimes as part of barter arms traffickers and narcotics traffickers, continues this same policeman. Once on French territory, they are stored, often with nannies as they do with drugs. »
It is difficult to estimate the exact number of these assault rifles in circulation in France. Several hundred for sure. And the police who fight against arms trafficking in France are not particularly optimistic: “The war in Ukraine, that is to say the proliferation of assault rifles at the gates of Europe, will inevitably feed this trade in coming years. »
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