A recent French security memorandum showed that hundreds of people wanted by the French judiciary reside in various countries, including Morocco, Algeria, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates. The document addresses the patterns of crimes associated with them and the level of judicial cooperation between France and the countries concerned in the extradition and prosecution files.
Escape Map: Where do the wanted men hide?
The memorandum, according to a report by the French newspaper Le Parisien, indicates that “recent developments in organized crime allow prominent criminals, currently convicted or wanted by French judicial authorities, to conduct their illegal activities outside France, sometimes quietly.”
The reasons mentioned include geographical distance, different judicial systems, deteriorating diplomatic relations with some countries, in addition to issues related to corruption in some cases.
Based on the 3,600 Red Notices currently circulated, the French police have prepared a classification of countries where French people are wanted. The data shows that large numbers of fugitives are concentrated in a limited number of destinations, which has become a growing source of concern for investigators.
Different crimes reveal the secrets of the favorite destinations of fugitives
Aside from the numbers, the report, according to the French newspaper Le Parisien, draws attention to the nature of the crimes associated with wanted persons in each destination. In some countries, those wanted in drug smuggling and organized crime cases predominate, while in other countries, cases of economic and financial crimes, such as fraud and money laundering, are prominent.
The data also shows that some destinations attract more defendants and those wanted in public rights cases, such as violence, assaults, and family disputes, which reflects a clear difference in the patterns of escape and asylum according to the nature of the crimes committed.
The dilemma of extradition and judicial cooperation hampers Paris's work
The report also addresses the issue of judicial cooperation between France and the countries where the wanted persons reside. He points out that there is a clear discrepancy between the size of the red notices issued by France and those it receives from some countries, which is reflected in the effectiveness of pursuing and recovering fugitives.
The difficulty increases, according to a report by the French newspaper Le Parisien, due to the laws in force in a number of countries that refuse to hand over their citizens to foreign authorities, which makes the extradition procedures long and complex, even in cases where the location of the wanted persons is precisely determined.
The report cites several examples of people wanted by the French judiciary who were arrested outside France, but their extradition files still face legal or political obstacles that prevent their return to French territory.
In the face of this reality, the National Directorate of Judicial Police, in cooperation with the Gendarmerie and the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs, launched an initiative aimed at identifying “priority targets” on which efforts should be focused, in an attempt to reduce what the document described as “the feeling of impunity.”
But on the ground, locating and prosecuting those wanted abroad remains an arduous task that requires long-term investigations, significant human and technical resources, as well as the cooperation of foreign security and judicial agencies, which cooperation is not always available to the desired extent.
