Grenoble wakes up to open drug recruitment
In Grenoble, a drug cartel has openly placed recruitment adverts on the walls of buildings in the city centre. Dozens of large graffiti-style notices appeared across the French city. They were impossible to miss. Their bright design, styled like the board game Monopoly, immediately caught the attention of local residents, French media reported.
The adverts listed everything: daily earnings, working hours, day and night shifts, positions and rates. A seller, for example, was offered €300 a day. A lookout was offered €150. A guard could receive €200–250 per day.
The message also said that reporting would be done “on site”. Drug prices were listed there as well. Drug traffickers no longer seem ashamed or afraid. They are simply announcing that they need new people to distribute narcotics. Even more striking is that, several days later, the adverts had still not been removed. They continued to attract new recruits in full view of the city.
Residents shocked by cartel adverts
Residents of the Hoche district, where the notices appeared, reacted with shock and despair.
“I am stunned to see this right in the city centre,” one of the residents said. “It is a recruitment campaign, just like ordinary companies do. In any case, that is how we have to see it,” another noted.
One woman asked where all this was leading.
“Where does this lead? It leads to being randomly killed in the street one day. Is that supposed to be a life plan?” she regretted.
Another resident pointed to the obvious danger for children and families.
“It seems a bit crazy to me that this is posted like that. There are schools nearby. Children pass here every day. Families too.”
One woman said the advert on her street had already been there for half a month.
“I am simply shocked. It has been hanging there for about 15 days now. Have you seen how it is posted? It feels as if we are in a supermarket,” she summed up.
The mayor promised to erase the adverts “very soon”. However, no decisive action or strategy, just wiping walls.
Police warn of a new stage in drug trafficking
Police admit that drug networks have moved to a new level of recruitment and distribution.
“This is a clear example of how networks are trying to recruit among the youngest population. We are crossing a new and worrying threshold in the structuring and normalisation of drug trafficking in Grenoble. Posting public adverts, a real tender for hiring, is a demonstration of total impunity,” said Alberto Randazzo, the Isère delegate of the Alliance national police union.
The word “normalisation” deserves attention. The trade in death is becoming normal. Hiring notices for people who help sell poison are becoming routine. But where did this impunity come from?
Perhaps the police cats are not catching mice, and that is why city streets now look like supermarkets for drugs. Beyond sad statements, what exactly is the gendarmerie prepared to do?
A district already marked by violence
The situation is more than critical. This area is already known for crime. Two years ago, a 15-year-old boy was shot dead here. In April last year, in the same area, a 27-year-old man was killed in a shooting near a drug-dealing point.
Since the start of the year, 10 people have reportedly been killed in Grenoble and the surrounding area during gang wars linked to drug trafficking. It is in this context that the provocative murals appeared. That is why local residents no longer hide their despair or their attitude towards the authorities.
“I am in despair. It is a disgrace,” one said.
A warning for Moldova too
But why should anyone be surprised? Especially in Moldova. Here too, drug networks leave adverts on walls. Drug stashes are hidden near schools and kindergartens. And when major drug traffickers are caught by police, Maia Sandu has repeatedly ensured their pardon by presidential decree. This has happened more than once. It has already become notorious.
