Algiers announces the arrest of four Moroccans accused of “espionage”

Monday 02nd September 2024 05:39 PM

An Algerian police officer (Illustration photo). Credit: DR.

Algeria has announced the arrest of Moroccans accused of being part of“a spy network”According to the public prosecutor’s office in Tlemcen, in western Algeria, several people, including four of Moroccan nationality, were arrested on Sunday, reports the French press agency AFP.

« The investigating judge at the Tlemcen court ordered, on Sunday, the provisional detention of seven individuals, including four Moroccans, following the recent dismantling of an espionage and intelligence network, with a view to undermining state security. “, reports the agency, citing the government news agency APS, which reported the statement by the public prosecutor’s office in this border town with Morocco.

A judicial investigation has been opened against ” persons identified by the investigation, under criminal charges of intelligence with a foreign country, or one of its agents », pour « espionage crime ” as well as for ” Illegal entry into the territory for three Moroccan nationals “, specifies the same source. ” This network recruited Moroccan and Algerian nationals with the aim of undermining Algerian security and administrative institutions. “, they add, without giving details on the nature of the supposed threats.

According to information reported by AFP, it was following the arrest on August 24 of a Moroccan national ” entered illegally ” in Algeria and identified by his initials “ZM”, that this affair of ” espionage ” was discovered after the exploitation of the data of his mobile phone. The suspect would activate, according to the same sources, ” within an espionage and intelligence network on behalf of a foreign party, in the company of Moroccan and Algerian nationals “After his arrest, six other people, three Algerians and three Moroccans, were arrested on August 28.

As a reminder, the announcement of the identification of this “ spy network “, comes less than a week before the presidential election scheduled for next Saturday in Algeria. This is not the first time that Algerian authorities have accused Moroccans of espionage, or even conspiracy, for domestic propaganda purposes.

Last summer, when Kabylie was ravaged by forest fires, the Algerian authorities did not hesitate to accuse ” undercover agents ” of Morocco of having, in collusion with the two political movements – Rachad and the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia (MAK) – to have started the fires which had caused nearly a hundred deaths. Two years earlier, the same accusations had also been used to explain the 2021 fires in Kabylia.

Also in 2021, the Algerian regime promoted another conspiracy theory, accusing Morocco and Israel of arming Kabyle separatism. According to the file then circulated in the Algerian media, the Algerian authorities claimed that this plot dates back to 2014 and would have allowed a group ” terrorist ” Kabyle to prepare armed operations, with the support of Morocco and Israel, in order to sow chaos. The accusations from Algiers quickly proved to be false, as deciphered in this Detox of the Desk.