France adopts major new bill to combat drug-related crime

PARIS: Some of France´s most dangerous drug traffickers face being locked up in high-security units in prison in the coming months, as part of a new crackdown on narcotics and drug-related crime.

Lawmakers approved the move in a bill passed late on Tuesday, in a rare success for the government, whose tough-talking interior and justice ministers Bruno Retailleau and Gerald Darmanin have been pushing for the legislation.

The French government has vowed to intensify the fight against narcotics and drug-related crime, with Retailleau saying in February that France was confronting a “white tsunami” of narcotics.

The right-leaning Senate backed the bill on Monday and a majority of lawmakers in the lower-house National Assembly gave it a green light on Tuesday evening.

The law means some of France´s most dangerous drug traffickers will be locked up in two top-security prisons, the first from July, under a system inspired by similar measures in Italy to tackle the mafia.

The new legislation will also see the creation of a specialised prosecutor´s office and national investigation unit to deal with the most complex drug-related crimes.

The law also allows prosecutors to keep certain investigation techniques secret from alleged traffickers and their lawyers in very specific cases, in a move that has been criticised on the left as infringing on their right to defence.

Darmanin on Tuesday evening hailed parliament´s vote as a “big step”, while Retailleau welcomed what he called a “decisive stage” allowing authorities to fight “on equal terms against those who poison the lives of our fellow citizens”.

The hard-left France Unbowed party voted against the bill, as did several others on the left, over the proposed law being too repressive.