Organ trafficking network dismantled in Algeria

A kidnap attempt on a two-year-old boy by a Moroccan was Wednesday foiled by the National Gendarmerie forces in Tlemcen province (west of Algiers).

Investigations led to dismantle an international network of Algerians, Moroccans and Africans who abduct children in Algeria and smuggle them through western borders. They take them to private clinics in the city of Ouadjda and its suburbs for human organs sale.

  The child and his mother were alone in a car as the father went to a grocery store. At that time, the kidnapper seized the opportunity and tried to kidnap the boy but his mother started screaming. Gendarmes who were on patrol intervened and caught the 30-year-old man red handed. Investigations showed that he comes from Morocco and has been illegally staying in Algeria for 6 months.     

Algerian mediator to keep watch on children  

When questioned, the arrested Moroccan said he was in charge of kidnapping the child and taking him on a car to Ouadjda. Then, he would be given to the leader of the network Abdeljalil Ammar alias Ammar Lekhal who, in his turn, would sell the boy to private medical surgery clinics in Ouadjda and many other Moroccan cities for human organs trade.The Moroccan kidnapper said he got 40,000 Dirham in return for that adding that there was an Algerian mediator who was collecting information on children to be kidnapped.   Three years ago, the National Gendarmerie forces in Tlemcen foiled a kidnap attempt on a “-year-old girl from Congo who lives with her refugee mother in Algiers. The kidnappers had demanded ransom before they were arrested.In April, the National Gendarmerie forces handled 28 kidnapping cases and arrested 31 suspects. Of them, 15 were jailed.