Guadeloupe: two GIGN officers shot and wounded in Les Abymes
Two GIGN officers were seriously shot and wounded during an operation against suspected armed robbers in Les Abymes. Four suspects were arrested.
Operation against suspected robbers in Les Abymes
Two GIGN officers were seriously shot and wounded on Saturday evening in Les Abymes, Guadeloupe, during a judicial police operation targeting suspected perpetrators of armed robbery, according to Actu17. One was hit in the arm, the second in the leg with a probable femur fracture. Their lives are not in danger.
Shots rang out at around 19:40 local time in the Perrin sector. Four suspects were arrested on site. A vehicle was found embedded in a gendarmerie pick-up truck, although the connection between this collision and the shots has not been established.
Significant deployment of security forces
An extensive operation was deployed immediately. One hundred gendarmes and ten police officers were mobilised, including three intervention platoons of mobile gendarmerie squadrons and a platoon of the Republican Guard. A helicopter, Guadeloupe's criminal identification unit, a canine team and firefighters also participated in the operations, which continued on Sunday.
Interior Minister's reaction
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez responded on Sunday late morning. "I extend my full support to them and wish them a speedy recovery. Targeting our law enforcement officers is unacceptable," he declared on X. He added: "We will not back down in the face of organised crime and gang violence."
Context of rising armed violence
This incident comes amid a climate of armed violence across the archipelago. In mid-September, Guadeloupe's prefect, Thierry Devimeux, and the attorney general, Éric Maurel, called for "society to rally against hyperviolence and the circulation of weapons." At that time, 31 homicides had already been recorded since January, of which 27 were by firearm.
In 2025, Guadeloupe recorded 11.5 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, a rate eight times higher than that of France as a whole (1.4). Widespread circulation of weapons is noted against the backdrop of drug trafficking in the French West Indies, which have become a transit zone between South America, the United States and Europe.
Source: Actu17