The mayor of Alès, threatened by the DZ Mafia, was exfiltrated from his home by the Raid last night after fears about the presence of a car bomb

Threats targeting the mayor of Alès (Gard) are intensifying. The elected representative of the Republicans Christophe Rivenq was exfiltrated from his home by the Raid on the night of Monday July 20 to Tuesday July 21, after receiving death threats signed by the name of the DZ Mafia, franceinfo learned Tuesday from concordant sources, confirming information from the Parisian. Early Tuesday afternoon, from the National Assembly, the Minister of the Interior clarified that the mayor of Alès was the target of a “violent action project”.

“These are acts of intimidation of the mayor of Alès, and, beyond that, of all those who fight against drug trafficking,” underlined Laurent Nuñez. The chosen one “is the subject of very high level protection, he and his family”, said the Minister of the Interior. He also promised that “all the light” would be made regarding these threats.

Suspicions of a car bomb near the elected official’s home

A source close to the matter confirms, as mentioned The Parisianthe suspicion of the presence of a car bomb near the councilor’s home. On July 16, Christophe Rivenq explained that his wife, returning home at the end of the day, had found “tags” on the walls of the fence of his house, and an envelope in the mailbox, containing two 9 mm bullets “and the signature of the DZ Mafia”.

Christophe Rivenq affirms that the threatening letter evoked “the police operations carried out” against drug trafficking in Alès, “that they had to be stopped, with much harsher words”. However, the elected official had until now refused the establishment of protection and simply had a “alert button” allowing security forces to be notified in the event of a threat, explains a source close to the matter to franceinfo. He did not intend to let himself be intimidated, as he confided to France Télévisions on July 17, in his office: “I will not give in to the threat, to the temptation, we must not give in here as everywhere, otherwise it is the failure of the Republic.”

The Anti-Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office takes charge of the facts

An investigation was opened for death threats and intimidation. She was entrusted to the Alès police station “and in co-referral with the anti-crime division of the Nîmes police station, the former PJ, to really put maximum police resources into identifying the perpetrators of these threats”, said Abdelkrim Grini, the public prosecutor of Alès. In an interview with France 3 Occitaniethe magistrate added that “the inscriptions are signed ‘DZ NG’, therefore ‘DZ Mafia new generation'”, And “CVN, for Cévennes”. “Inscriptions which are quite particular and which lead us to believe that these are threats that must be taken seriously and seriously”, he estimated.

On Tuesday, the National Anti-Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office announced to franceinfo that it was taking charge of the investigation opened into these threats. “We have taken up the facts committed on July 16 (tags and cartridges found) and the exfiltration of that night for the purposes of protecting this elected official,” details the specialized flooring to AFP. It is a question of determining who was planning a “violent action” against Christophe Rivenq, and who sent him threats last week, said Laurent Nuñez on this subject.