Grenoble, a glamorous Alpine gateway loved by British skiers, has been rocked by a shocking surge in mafia violence that has seen children gunned down in the streets.
The once-idyllic ‘Capital of the Alps’ – visited by tens of thousands of UK holidaymakers every year – is now battling a ruthless drug war fought with military-grade weapons.
Police say organised crime gangs are increasingly using vulnerable migrant boys as ‘cannon fodder’ in a struggle for control of the region’s lucrative drug trade.
The horror was laid bare two weeks ago when a 13-year-old was ambushed and shot three times in the back and legs at 3am.
The boy, said by locals to be named Chaouki, arrived in France from Algeris as a child and is believed to have been trafficked from Paris to act as a drug runner.
‘I heard five shots and someone yelling ‘No, stop! Stop!’,’ student Mila Piognard said. ‘And then nothing’.
The teenager, who remains in a critical condition, is one of three minors shot in Grenoble in the past year – one of whom died from a bullet to the head.
Police confirm the boys were known to them under multiple identities after repeatedly escaping state care.
Police say organised crime gangs are increasingly using vulnerable migrant boys as ‘cannon fodder’ in a struggle for control of the region’s lucrative drug trade
The ‘menu’ of different drugs sold by dealers is tagged on the facade of a building in a district of Avignon, south of France, on March 13, 2025
Authorities say these young migrants are now the frontline of the narco-war tearing through the city.
Officers regularly apprehend boys aged 12 and 13 used to ferry narcotics or act as lookouts near tourist hotspots.
‘We’ve seen a big shift,’ Etienne Manteaux, the Grenoble prosecutor, told The Telegraph.
Traffickers previously used French minors as those aged under 13 cannot be prosecuted and under-18s face lighter sentences.
‘But the French minors tended to talk. So they started using foreigners without papers. They are a workforce that can be exploited at will. It’s bordering on human trafficking.’
Aid worker Stephane Dezalay further explained that they are easier targets as ‘no one knows them, no on worries about them’.
One undocumented youth told the newspaper that they were offered around £88 to work from 8am to midnight. ‘You just sit there and shout if the police come,’ he added.
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Despite Marseille’s long-held reputation as France’s drug capital, Grenoble now suffers more crime per head – 93.9 per 1,000 residents, compared with 73.5 in Marseille.
Last year alone, there were 48 shootings, seven drug-related murders, and even the assassination of a notorious local kingpin near Paris.
The grim transformation contrasts sharply with Grenoble’s polished image.
Just last year it topped a global quality of life ranking, thanks to its pristine trams, national parks and buzzing cultural scene.
But this year the city has been listed among France’s ten most dangerous, with critics noting nine of those are run by Left-wing mayors.
For decades, Grenoble’s criminal world was dominated by the ‘Italo-Grenoblois’ mob – until March, when its 71-year-old boss Jean-Pierre Maldera was riddled with Kalashnikov bullets while sitting in his BMW.
His execution triggered a brutal contest for the region’s 28 drug-dealing hotspots, worth up to £8,800 a day each.
The attacks have become increasingly reckless. Last September, a municipal employee was shot dead in daylight after attempting to stop a fleeing dealer.
In February, a hooded 17-year-old armed with an assault rifle lobbed a grenade into a Villeneuve bar linked to a convicted murderer, injuring 15 people.
The once-idyllic ‘Capital of the Alps’ – visited by tens of thousands of UK holidaymakers every year – is now battling a ruthless drug war fought with military-grade weapons
Police officers patrol in a residential building of the Mistral neighbourhood, as part of an anti-drug operation, in Grenoble, on October 15, 2025
Damages inside the Aksehir bar where a grenade was thrown, in the Grenoble Olympic Village, part of La Villeneuve district, on February 13, 2025
Ex-interior minister Bruno Retailleau blasted the method as ‘war-like’ and ‘unprecedented’.
‘It’s a mini-Marseille,’ Mr Manteaux warned. He said Grenoble’s gangs buy cannabis directly from Morocco and cocaine straight from South America.
He added that the traffickers in Grenoble ‘are no one’s lieutenants,’ with many leaders operating from ‘uncooperative countries’ such as the UAE.
Alliance police union chief Myriam Munox described the operation as ‘very organised, explaining the group had produced a baseball cap printed with a dealer brand – M38 – along with flyers and QR-coded drug menus.
In the Mistral area, dealers hand out glossy cards advertising hash, ecstasy and cocaine for around £44 a gram – with home delivery.
‘Goodies, loyalty cards, home delivery. But behind the friendly façade, when young people use Kalashnikov-type weapons in the city, we’re not far off Baghdad,’ Munox warned.
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The trade is so brazen that one dealing spot operates around 90metres from a police station in the Alma district – the same area where a 15-year-old Tunisian was shot last year.
Deals are completed in seconds as teenagers stand and watch under umbrellas or rummage in bushes for hidden supplies.
Across the street stands an anti-discrimination charity whose director, 78-year-old former rugby forward Claude Jacquier, was beaten with iron bars in 2020 after challenging criminals who were ‘cuckooing’ the flats under his care.
Cuckooing is a form of criminal exploitation where individuals or gangs take over the home of a vulnerable person to use the property for illegal purposes.
‘They tried to break my legs,’ he said. ‘If I’d caught them, I’d have killed them’.
Mr Manteaux revealed he intended to target Grenoble’s students and other groups closely linked to the cocaine market, and force offenders to partake in rehabilitation courses while facing £175 fines and up to a year behind bars
He also warned ski resorts that he would not allow them to become ‘blind spots’ for the drug.
‘I say to our British friends: enjoy our slopes. But don’t buy drugs, or we’ll come after you,’ Mr Manteaux said.
