Is Algeria becoming a hub for international cocaine trafficking? Or is it a country of large-scale consumption of this hard drug?
The question was asked after the record seizure of 7 quintals of cocaine in 2018 and it is being asked again this summer 2023 with the announcement of two large seizures by the police in the same week.
The first announcement was made on Saturday by the police, who said they seized a significant amount of cocaine on Friday evening aboard a foreign boat that docked at the port of Algiers.
According to a statement from the Directorate General of National Security (DGSN) released on Saturday, the elements of the judicial police, acting on information, proceeded on Friday, July 28, around 11 PM, to search a foreign ship at the port of Algiers, in coordination with the coast guards. The thorough search revealed 35.9 Kg of cocaine hidden in the ship. The police did not provide more details.
On Sunday, July 30, another statement from the DGSN came in late in the day, announcing the seizure of an even larger amount of this hard drug, nearly 80 kg. This time, the police provided the details of a large-scale operation patiently carried out over three months by the members of the SLCTIS (service against illicit drug trafficking). It is one of the largest operations against hard drug trafficking in the history of Algeria, according to the police.
More than a quintal of cocaine seized in Algeria in the same week
The operation is the work of a transnational criminal organization led by the named Ch. Chouaib, alias El Hadj Zgaboudj, on the run in France.
Also acting on information, the SLCTIS tracked the suspects’ movements for three months, notably the person chosen for the transport of cocaine from Tamanrasset to Algiers. The driver, a sexagenarian, was apprehended on July 23 en route in Berriane, in the wilaya of Ghardaïa.
In a hideout set up in his vehicle, a 4×4, the police discovered 65 plates of cocaine with a total weight of 73.72 kg.
The police then proceeded to arrest the other members of the network, 15 in total, all from Algiers and Blida. The searches allowed the seizure of an additional amount of cocaine estimated at 5.68 kg, in addition to the sum of 21.76 million dinars, in the district of Bourouba, near El Harrach (Algiers).
The DGSN specifies that the same El Hadj Zgaboudj was behind the attempt to flood Algeria with psychotropics last March. The operation was aborted by the police, who were able to recover 1.2 million capsules. Five international arrest warrants have been issued by Algerian justice against the drug trafficker.
In May 2018, a shipment of 701 kg of cocaine was seized off Oran on board a ship coming from South America.