Customs: “Drafting Of List Of Suspects Involved In Hard Currency Smuggling At Ports And Airports”

The General Directorate of Customs Services has taken a string of new measures to tighten control over the smuggling of hard currency abroad, at a time when the hard currency black market in the capital Algiers and a number of other provinces in the country, witnessed a strong rush of traders, business dealers and money changers, especially in light of the widespread popular protest movement which has marked the national scene in recent weeks.

This situation has prompted the Euro and the Dollar to hike to record highs, as a list of suspects involved in illegal foreign exchange activity has been worked out by the relevant security services and orders have been issued for close scrutiny on the matter.

In this context, the head of communication cell at the level of the General Directorate of Customs Services Mr. Djamel Barika said Monday in a statement to “Echorouk” that the Customs Department has taken concrete measures during the recent period to bolster control of currency smuggling through ports, airports and land borders of Algeria and this move, he stressed, has enabled the reduction of attempts to transfer illicitly hard currency abroad by some ill-advised people.

This comes at a time when the latter have been trying to devise new ways of smuggling the hard currency overseas.

This time, according to the customs official, the number of inspectors at exit points has doubled towards a number of countries, notably towards Turkey, Dubai n the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere in the world, as a list of people who travel abroad more than once a week, deemed as “suspects”, will be screened and subjected to a more thorough corporal and luggage search at ports, airports and land crossing points.

According to the same source, these stiff measures are part of the precautions taken by customs services in this sensitive juncture to preclude the smuggling of hard currency from Algeria abroad, as this deals the national economy a great blow, especially in light of the unabated collapse of oil prices and the remedial measures initiated by the Government to ward off the exit from the country of large amounts of Euros and Dollars destined for import, notably through the imposition of fees on the roster of more than 1,000 imported products and materials ranging between 30 and 200 percent.