Algeria foils attempt to smuggle 3,000 cocaine pills

Customs Sunday seized more than 3,000 cocaine pills in the Algiers International Airport smuggled by a network operating between Marseille and Algiers, an official at the airport said.

The pills were hidden in expensive biscuit boxes made in France. The Attorney General at a court in El Harrach ordered to open an investigation.

This comes as an Air Algerie plane arrived from Marseille on Sunday night. The scanner showed that luggage contained 450 drug tablets with 3,164 pills covered with chocolate.

Customs arrested a 48-year-old man living in Algiers and has dual citizenship. Investigators found out that he works for an international network. He entered Algeria with a French passport and an Algerian identity card, the same source told Echorouk.

The suspect was put in temporary prison while customs were ordered to step up surveillance measures on international airline employees.