Overview
- Marseille prosecutors said four people were placed under formal investigation after six mobile phones were discovered in early March in the isolation unit of Aix-Luynes prison.
- One suspect was remanded in pre-trial detention and another placed under judicial supervision, with prosecutors seeking detention for the remaining two.
- Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said five people were arrested and described indications of a planned violent action, citing purchased police and firefighter uniforms, walkie-talkies, sirens, armbands, smoke devices, ropes, and a rented apartment.
- The phones were found shortly before the planned transfer of suspected DZ Mafia leader Gabriel O. to a cell where one of the devices had been located after his move from the ultra-secure Vendin-le-Vieil facility.
- Gabriel O. is scheduled to appear from March 23 in Aix-en-Provence in a trial over a 2019 double murder, and authorities say the judicial probe continues.