Algeria’s Faces-to-Face Confrontation With the Makhzen in the “Drug War”

The National Office for the Fight against Drugs and Drug Addiction warned, in its annual report for 2024, of Morocco’s new plans and its dirty role in flooding the country with tons of “deadly hashish,” which it is attempting to use as a dangerous weapon against Algeria and Algerians, aiming to thwart their resolve and undermining their will.

Accordingly, on Wednesday, March 12, the government reviewed the draft multifaceted national strategy for preventing drugs and psychotropic substances for 2025-2029. The draft strategy, prepared by Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the country’s President and Chief Justice, aims to combat and prevent this phenomenon at all security, economic, social, and health levels.

The draft addresses ways to strengthen the legislative framework for the suppression of various crimes related to drugs and psychotropic substances, particularly by increasing penalties for drug-related crimes and adapting criminal provisions to prosecute them.

In detail, Echorouk sources revealed that the National Office for the Fight against Drugs and Drug Addiction, affiliated with the Ministry of Justice, based its report, which it will submit to the country’s highest authorities in the coming days, on the results of seizures by various “joint” security agencies, including the gendarmerie, army units, police, and customs. These seizures demonstrated a record and alarming increase in the quantities of Moroccan drugs entering Algeria, across the Algerian borders, particularly with Morocco.

In numbers, and according to data exclusively obtained by Echorouk, the quantity of drugs seized exceeded 60.5 tons of cannabis in 2024. 70% of the seized were in the west of the country, where traffickers attempted to smuggle them from Morocco to Algeria.

For its part, the National Army’s high command sent a message to all security agencies, calling for a tightening of the noose on drug barons and traffickers, while imposing controls on the large quantities of these toxins entering our country daily, especially from Morocco. This was after receiving detailed reports indicating that Algeria was exposed to a systematic threat of being flooded with tons of these toxins.

On this basis, various units of the People’s National Army (ANP) seized 36.8 tons of processed cannabis and 631 kilograms of cocaine in 2024, arresting 2,621 drug dealers. Meanwhile, joint units of the People’s National Army (ANP), in coordination with various security services, foiled an attempt to smuggle large quantities of drugs in a single operation across our border with Morocco last January, estimated at 25 quintals and 10 kilograms of processed cannabis. This qualitative operation reaffirms the high vigilance and utmost commitment of the People’s National Army forces stationed along the border to combat all forms of organized crime and maintain the security and stability of the country.

According to the annual report of the General Directorate of National Security, various police units seized more than 5 tons of cannabis and over 377 kg of cocaine in 2024, resulting in the arrest of 157,744 individuals involved in 141,497 cases.

Furthermore, investigations by the National Gendarmerie revealed that the provinces along the western border became a major transit zone for Moroccan drugs. A map prepared by the Gendarmerie Command revealed that the provinces that experienced record drug seizures were Tlemcen, El Bayadh, Naama, and Bechar, near the Moroccan border. Drug trafficking networks are using every means to flood Algeria with processed cannabis.

No matter how hard the Makhzen regime tries to polish its image by presenting false figures regarding drug seizures and justifying its project to regulate cannabis cultivation under the pretext of “medical, industrial, and therapeutic purposes,” international reports have categorized Morocco as a source of these toxins, both legally and illegally. These drugs are now eroding the minds and health of young people and contributing to regional instability through their funding of organized crime and terrorism.