Drug lords’ supercar races prove more than a match for humble French police patrols

FRENCH police are struggling to keep up with a rising number of drug barons running supercar “urban rodeos” – illegal street races or stunts using rented high-end sports models.

A judicial police note obtained by Le Figaro newspaper warned that the illegal “phenomenon” of dangerous driving by individuals at the wheel of Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other “powerful cars” posed “serious difficulties in terms of public and road safety”.

“Powerful luxury cars with Polish number plates have been detected all over the country and are driven by individuals known by police for unfavourable reasons,” it wrote.

Sirasco, the French organised crime police unit tasked with analysing the phenomenon, said that “these cars are used for illegal street races, hit and runs, refusal to comply [with police], as well as the transport of drugs or even cash or weapons”.

Le Figaro said the police stood little chance of catching such criminals given the type of vehicles they drive. “Speed traps flash in vain,” it wrote. “Police in [Renault] Clios and [Peugeot] 3008s do what they can but nobody is fooled: the duel is unequal.” The note cited an incident in which “the driver of a Porsche Cayman violently struck a police vehicle, wounding officers inside after having refused to stop”.

It also mentioned an arrest in Born near Lyon for organising “rodeos” – illegal street races – at up to 200mph, and for having promoted them on social media.

For years, Germany was the main nation for criminals to acquire supercars for cash, but the note said that “the bolstering of controls in this country has prompted a transfer to Poland and more recently to Bulgaria and Estonia”.

Criminals have come up with a scheme so that the vehicles cannot be seized, renting them for up to €3,000 (£2,600) per day from French “agents” who hire the supercars in Eastern Europe, said the note.

“The rental or lease of foreign vehicles guarantees total anonymity for criminals and constitutes a means to launder and hide their assets,” the paper said.

Police have launched a plan to seize such vehicles on the grounds that they are not insured for French roads.

Joyriding hit the headlines in France this summer after a string of accidents involving motorbikes and scooters in France.