DZ Mafia: a planned operation foiled at the high-security prison of Vendin-le-Vieil

On Monday, March 9, three people from outside the prison and an inmate were arrested by law enforcement at the Vendin-le-Vieil high-security prison. According to initial reports, they were planning the escape of an alleged leader of the DZ Mafia, incarcerated in Aix-Luynes. A setback. Three people from outside the prison and an inmate at the Vendin-le-Vieil high-security prison were arrested by law enforcement, BFMTV has learned. According to initial reports, they were planning an escape for an alleged leader of the DZ Mafia, incarcerated in Aix-Luynes. In detail, the escape plan was hatched from the Vendin-le-Vieil prison but concerns the Aix-Luynes prison, where Gaby O., one of the alleged leaders of the DZ Mafia, is currently incarcerated. Kamel A., the Lyon-based criminal lawyer who defends several drug traffickers and who was already arrested by the police earlier this week, is also to be questioned in this case. A lawyer questioned by law enforcement. From Monday, March 9th to Tuesday, March 10th, a National Gendarmerie operation targeting the DZ Mafia led to the arrest of more than 40 suspects in the Bouches-du-Rhône, Var, Vaucluse, and Gard departments, as well as in several French prisons, as reported to BFMTV by a source close to the investigation, confirming information from Le Parisien. According to the same source, several of those arrested are considered to be the leaders of the organization. These are believed to be Gabriel O., Madhi Z., and Amine O., who have been held at the high-security prison in Condé-sur-Sarthe since November. Following these dozens of arrests, Laurent Nuñez, the Minister of the Interior, reacted in a message posted on X: "The State will not yield to criminal organizations: it will dismantle them. Congratulations to the gendarmerie investigators for their exceptional determination. We are fully mobilized."