Africa-Press – Lesotho. French authorities launched a major operation Tuesday to crack down on the use of miniature mobile phones in prisons nationwide, searching 66 jails across the country in a bid to seize thousands of the devices.
The operation, called “Prison Break”, aims to seize “miniature telephones put into circulation by a Chinese company and resold in France”, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said.
The raids come after the use of the devices was blamed for lawlessness in prisons, with detainees still masterminding drug deals and even contract killings while behind bars.
Searches for the 5,000 such phones estimated to be on French territory had been authorised in around 500 cells, the prosecutor said.
She said the tiny phones — the size of a cigarette lighter — had been resold by a French supplier called Oportik, whose website has now been blocked by the authorities after its domain name was seized.
The prosecutor emphasised it was against the law to give any kind of phone to a detainee.
But in 2023 alone, 53,000 devices and accessories were seized, according to the prison administration. And in 2024, more than 40,000, according to figures released by the justice ministry in January.
‘Designed to bypass prison security’
The phones can be brought in by relatives during visits, by using drones that are a growing problem for prison authorities, by throwing packages over prison walls, or on occasion even with the help of prison officers.
The devices are marketed as being undetectable by security at the entrances to jails.
“Investigations have established that some of these phones have been used to commit drug trafficking offences, fraud, damage to businesses by fire and attempted murder from inside prisons,” Beccuau said.
France’s right-leaning government has been under pressure to restore security in prisons after convicted drug trafficker Mohamed Amra, known as “The Fly”, escaped detention in May last year.
The tightly coordinated breakout left two prison officers dead.
Amra was finally arrested in Romania after evading arrest for nine months and extradited to France.
Last month, a series of coordinated attacks struck French prisons, including the torching of cars and automatic gunfire targeting some sites, with mysterious inscriptions often left behind.
Prosecutors blamed the attacks on drug traffickers.
The operation is aimed at “seizing, in a coordinated manner, mobile phones specifically designed to bypass prison security in nearly 70 French prisons,” Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
“This is a continuation of the tough prison policy we are pursuing, particularly against organised crime,” he added.
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