Overview
- Investigators arrested four additional suspects in the investigation into Mehdi Kessaci, with sources saying the detentions took place on Tuesday and were confirmed by the national anti-crime prosecutor.
- Three of those seized were extracted from existing pretrial detention on other organized-crime cases and are described by police as having logistical roles such as supplying phones, weapons or safe houses.
- At least one testimony reported to investigators presents the fourth newly arrested suspect as having been contracted as a shooter and as having links to the DZ Mafia, though that account remains under verification.
- The inquiry is led by Marseille’s police judiciaire with support from the Office central de lutte contre la criminalité organisée and is supervised by the Parquet national anti-criminalité organisée and Paris-based examining judges.
- Authorities view the killing as part of Marseille’s wider narcotics gang violence, a pattern that cost 17 lives in 2025, and the probe could clarify how gang networks organise hits and how those networks can be disrupted.