Majority of illegal immigrants who were arrested and interrogated had resorted to “illegal immigration” after despair of obtaining a visa to travel to Europe using legal methods, colonel Djamel Zghida, head of the judicial police led by the national gendarmerie says.

• “Investigations by the national gendarmerie show that 62% of the illegal immigrants have applied for visas from various European consulates, but their demands were rejected”, colonel Zghida said during a lecture on the parliamentary day which was organized by the defence committee at the people’s national council in the Army club for protecting the national economy and combating criminality.
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• “Investigations by the national gendarmerie recorded 45 nationalities including Asians, mostly from the Sahel region and Sahara, who use Algeria as a transit country to Europe, however, many of them stranded and stayed in Algeria, particularly, those who are living their 40’s”, he added.
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• Colonrl Zghida also warned of the growing of illegal immigration to Algeria, saying that the first months of 2009 recorded 700 cases compared to 600 in 2008 and only 500 in 2005, pointing out that illegal immigration had always been related to drugs and trafficking counterfeit goods across the southern borders which extends along more than 6.000 km.