Pot peddlers ‘forced teens to become Muslim’

Police have arrested members of a gang of Eastern European immigrants who used violence, intimidation and the promotion of Islam to control marijuana trafficking operations in the Neuchâtel mountains, cantonal justice authorities said on Thursday.

Three members were detained for questioning following the arrest of another ringleader in March, who remains in jail, the public prosecutor’s office said, while issuing an appeal to the public for more information to help permanently disband the group.

The gang, which calls itself the Jamahat, forced other young people to become Muslims as part of its operations, said officials.

The group peddled pot to adolescents from disadvantaged families in the cities of Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds, traditional watch-making centres,the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The group is made up of young Muslim men originally from such places as Chechnya, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia who recently stepped up their criminal activities, authorities said.

The group “is attempting to radicalize its activities by seeking to impose — by physical and psychological violence — a monopoly on the sale of marijuana in our region.