Marseille police unit deeply corrupt: prosecutor

MARSEILLE (Reuters) - A police unit in Marseille assigned to tackle spiraling gang violence, drug trafficking and a murder rate that have shocked France is deeply corrupt, the city prosecutor said on Friday.

"The feeling is of a gangrene that has struck, that has touched this service," prosecutor Jacques Dallest said of the 60-member brigade policing the crime-ridden and heavily immigrant northern areas of France's second largest city.

During a search this week, inspectors from France's police watchdog division found hashish, 800 euros ($1,000) in cash, plus marijuana and jewels, hidden in false ceilings in the offices, lockers, and homes of suspects working in the northern police brigade.

"I consider it an organized system of theft, racketeering, and drug trafficking," Dallest told a news conference after 12 of 13 officers arrested this week were taken before judges. He said further arrests were likely.

Later on Friday, investigating magistrates jailed four of the 12 officers and put them under a formal judicial inquiry - a process that usually, but not always, leads to trial under French law.

The rampant crime in Marseille, as well as a similar scandal in France's third largest city, Lyon, have posed a huge headache for Socialist President Francois Hollande.

He is under pressure to tackle the breakdown in law and order in Marseille's northern parts, which have been subject to stepped-up policing since 2008, but has so far rejected political calls for the army to intervene.

Hollande, whose approval ratings have tumbled since his May election, is caught between campaign promises to help youth living in dangerous housing project communities at the periphery of many French cities, and the need to be seen to be tough on crime.

The number of murders in Marseille had reached 12 as of August 30, just short of last year's total of 13. The violence in the historic port's northern district takes place far from the plush coastal neighborhoods on the Mediterranean.

Dallest described the alleged racket as "pretty much a whole catalogue of the most unacceptable schemes" that include taking drugs, cigarettes and cash from dealers and others, and conducting illegal searches of crime suspects, sharing the seized drugs and money between officers.

"There is no place for those who tarnish the police uniform," Interior Minister Manuel Valls told reporters.

The affair adds to a separate corruption investigation in Lyon, where the deputy police chief is accused of selling drugs.

The Marseille suspects face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. ($1 = 0.7689 euros)

(Writing By Alexandria Sage; Editing by Michael Roddy)