Morocco mobilizes drug smuggling barons to get through borders

Tension was triggered once again between Algiers and Rabat as Morocco alleged that Algeria attacked a Moroccan national on borders.

Algerian foreign minister Abdelaziz Ben Ali Cherif denied the allegations, saying they were “made up” to fuel tension between the two countries.

“The Algerian foreign ministry rejects the false description of the incident which took place on October 18^th on the Algerian-Moroccan borders. It was exploited in an overstated political way by Morocco,” said the ministry in a release posted by the Algerian news agency (APS).

“The borders guard patrol which was attacked by Moroccan smugglers by stones on that day responded in a professional way as usual. They shot in the air and could not in any case wound anyone involved in this provocative act,” it added.

This comes as Morocco says three Algerian soldiers opened fire on ten Moroccan citizens in the Ouled Salah village in north-eastern Ouadjda in Morocco. It also said a Moroccan man was wounded and taken to hospital.

Algeria described Morocco’s allegations as a “maneuver and escalation” motivated by unannounced purposes. “They show irresponsible attitude in contradiction with brotherhood and good neighboring values between the two people.”

Algeria said it was “sorry that some Moroccan leaders did not say the truth and used those provocative ways.”

Earlier in February, Rabat said a surveillance center on borders was shot by the Algerian side.