Second brother of French anti-drugs campaigner shot dead in Marseille

Investigators fear the murder of a second brother of Amine Kessaci is meant as a warning to him.

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Amine Kessaci's 20-year-old brother Mehdi was parking his car in the centre of the city, when a motorcycle drew up and the pillion passenger opened fire with a 9mm pistol.

Their elder brother, Brahim, was murdered in 2020. He was shot and his charred body found in a burned-out car, a common method in gang killings known locally as a "barbecue".

Marseille is renowned for worsening drugs wars, with rival gangs from high-immigration neighbourhoods in the north of the city battling over turf.

While Amine's murdered elder brother, Brahim, was known to have become involved with drugs gangs, investigators say that was not true of Mehdi, who had ambitions to become a policeman.