A 26-year-old man has been put under investigation in the inquiry into the arson that killed seven people in the Moulins neighborhood in Nice in July 2024. Considered a presumed organizer of the commando, the suspect denies his involvement.
A seventh suspect has just been put under investigation in the inquiry into the deadly arson at the Moulins in Nice. Aged 26, Yassine K. was extracted on Tuesday, August 11 from the Nancy prison, before being placed in police custody on a rogatory commission from a Nice investigating judge.
The Nice public prosecutor’s office indicates that the suspect is being investigated notably for participation in a criminal association with a view to preparing a crime and complicity in destruction by organized gang of another’s property by dangerous means. Yassine K. “formally denies” having played a role in organizing the attack.
According to investigation findings, Yassine K. allegedly participated in the recruitment of three men on behalf of the presumed instigator. The commando was to act in the context of a conflict linked to the control of drug trafficking networks.
The investigations notably made it possible to highlight exchanges on Snapchat, obtained from American authorities. These elements would have helped clarify the role attributed to the suspect in forming the commando.
Seven dead in the Moulins fire
During the night of July 17-18, 2024, a deliberate fire was set in the stairwell of a building located at 38 Rue de la Santoline, in the Moulins neighborhood in Nice. The flames spread to an apartment on the seventh floor.
Six people died in the apartment. Among the victims were four minors aged 5, 7, 10 and 17. A seventh person had thrown himself out of the window to escape the flames. An eighth person had been hospitalized in critical condition.
The family present in the apartment was not linked to the drug trafficking targeted by the operation. The investigation therefore favors the theory of an attack intended for another person present in the building.
The number of suspects put under investigation has now reached seven in this case. Three presumed arsonists, aged 17 to 21 at the time of the facts, have been identified. Two have been arrested. The third is in Algeria and has not been extradited due to his Algerian nationality.
The presumed instigator still at large
The presumed instigator of the attack, aged 28, remains at large. Born in Senegal and already convicted several times for drug trafficking, the man had left France after the fire.
An arrest was made at Bissau airport in Guinea-Bissau in December 2024. The extradition procedure did not however succeed, in the absence of a bilateral agreement between France and Guinea-Bissau.
The presumed instigator and the third arsonist are now subject to international arrest warrants.
The investigation is still seeking to precisely determine the responsibilities of each protagonist in this attack that cost the lives of seven members of the same family, uninvolved in the conflict linked to drug trafficking.
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