Protection from French dealer in stolen goods (7)
I believe the answer is:
defence
'protection' is the definition.
(defence is a kind of protection)
'from french dealer in stolen goods' is the wordplay.
'from french' becomes 'de' (French for 'from').
'dealer in stolen goods' becomes 'fence' (I've seen this before).
'de'+'fence'='DEFENCE'
(Other definitions for defence that I've seen before include "shelter" , "This department deals with national protection" , "Military protection" , "Weaponry, possibly" , "The D in MoD" .)