64 tons of cannabis seized annually in Algeria, Interior Minister

Algeria is combating the smuggling of large quantities of cannabis which entered its territories, as 64 tons are seized every year causing dangerous affects on youth and economy of the country, Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia said during the G8 meeting in Paris on Tuesday.

During a conference with the Algerian press after the meeting of the G8 Ministers on drug trafficking, Ould Kablia explains that Algeria’s presence in the meeting was not sure because only G8 ministers are concerned with the subject of the symposium, adding that Algeria is neither concerned with the trans-Atlantic matters nor with cocaine.

“I explained to the G8 members that Algeria is neither a producer of cocaine nor a transit country for smuggling this kind of drugs, it is not a country where cocaine is widely consumed. Algeria is combating another kind of drugs which is cannabis. It was excluded from the G8 discussion but we were able to include it as an element of the file thanks to the experience of our ambassador in Vienna. Finally the topic of the meeting became the international fight against drug trafficking and the word “trans-Atlantic” have been deleted. Algeria is no longer a country of transit. It becomes a consumer of cannabis”, Ould Kablia asserted.

“Big efforts at the level of Algerian ports are done every day to prevent the smuggling of drugs to Europe. There is an exchange of information about drug trade allowing security services to monitor traffickers’ movements. To combat drug trade we must control the retailers and sensitize youth who are the first victims of this phenomenon”, he added.

“Algeria participated in this meeting at the invitation of the French presidency. We are convicted that Algeria was invited due to the benefits it added to this ministerial meeting using its experience, administration, legislation and openness to dialogue. Algeria is playing an important role in this field”.

“Algeria proposed a special fund to fight drug trafficking during the preparatory meetings leading up to this meeting in order to help poor countries that do not have the necessary means to combat that various forms of drugs. A country has made a reservation saying that the issue is not quite clear, therefore the Regulation Action Plan was amended to emphasize the need for direct consultations in the future to discuss this issue”.