Algeria: 13 thousand individuals, involved in public order breaches, arrested in 2008

The Algerian security services rounded up during the year 2008 about 13 thousand individuals involved in acts of looting and depredation of public and private property notably at the exit of football stadiums in various parts of the national territory.

• “Echorouk El Yaoumi” learnt from DGSN sources that 2.253 individuals were brought before justice to answer for their misdeeds and 1.475 of them were imprisoned on charges of assault and battery, public order breaches, acts of arson and looting of public and private property.
• In 2007, only 7.319 people were arrested for the same offenses by virtue of the stringent instructions issued by the President of the Republique Abdellaziz Bouteflika who declared during one of his speeches that “the state would deal with an iron hand with all the offenders and troublemakers”.
• The year 2008 was notably marked by the violent incidents triggered by “hooligans” in the western city of Oran after the relegation to the second division of the national football championship of local team MC Oran as well as by the violent scuffles in the streets of the capital Algiers between zealous supporters of RC Kouba and USM El Harrach at the end of a crucial match allowing access to the first-division.
• Similar incidents, which were followed by numerous arrests among the troublemakers, also jolted the eastern city of M’sila and more recently the locality of Berriane, in the Algerian south.
• The security services also had to deal with 3.015 affairs linked to economic crime, money embezzlement, forgery and use of forgeries, swindling and bribery.
• Furthermore, 66.341 affairs related to drugs smuggling and consumption were thrashed out by the relevant services across the national territory.
• 70 % of these drugs-related affairs were settled and those involved in drugs trafficking were detained after standing trial before the relevant tribunal.
• 4.443.835 kg of cannabis, 618 Gr of heroine and cocaine were seized during 2008, a slight decrease compared with the previous year.
• Several drug – smuggling rings were dismantled by the security services and numerous “drug barons” were rounded up in the 4 corners of the country.
• In a separate file, the DGSN services recorded in 2008 the exit from the national territory of 2.719 526 Algerian travelers with 1.592 588 of them traveling by plane to France, followed by Spain, Italy, Egypt, Morocco, Syria and Turkey.
• 842.199 other people chose the land transport to travel to neighbouring Tunisia notably during the big influx of the 2008 summer season.
• 668 047 foreign travelers from various nationalities chose, for their part, the Algeria destination in 2008.
• On the security plan, the security forces set up in 2008 around 138.774 road blocks and checkpoints in various parts of Algeria notably in and around  major urban zones as part of the relentless struggle against criminality and terrorism.