France eyes drug gang in probe of prison attacks

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said at a news conference on Saturday that one of the suspected organisers of April's prison attacks claims to have ties with the DZ Mafia.

She said police investigators would examine "the real or supposed influence of the DZ Mafia" in the violence.

Several prisons were targeted by gunfire and arson, including attacks on prison workers' homes and on cars at a prison service school, in the Paris area and elsewhere, the prosecutor said.

The letters "DDPF" were graffitied on some targets, believed to stand for "defense des prisonniers francais", which translates as "defence of French prisoners".

The Paris prosecutor said 21 people detained for suspected involvement in the violence have been handed preliminary charges for attempted murder and other alleged crimes.

French authorities in recent months have stepped up policing against drug trafficking, concerned about growing cocaine use in France and violence associated with the trafficking of that and other drugs.