US Report: Morocco Is The Main Source Of Drugs Towards Algeria

U.S State Secretariat accused, in its annual report, Morocco of smuggling tons of drugs to Algeria annually, either by land or maritime border, and praised the efforts of the Algerian authorities in the fight against money laundering crimes, thanks to the surveillance that is imposed on the banking sector.

In its report for the year 2017, on drug trafficking and financial crimes, the US State Secretariat recorded that money laundering in Algeria remains weak because of the strict regulation in the field of exchange control, according to the report which was referred on Wednesday to Congress, thanks to the surveillance that is imposed on the banking sector, which consists mainly of public banks where the activity money laundering is fought.

“Viability of the dinar’s limited exchange allowed the Bank of Algeria to control the international financial transactions that are carried out by the banks. Few cases of money laundering are registered outside the formal financial sector, like the tax evasion, real estate deals and commercial fraud that escape from the bank surveillance.”

It warned of the cash payment, which increases the risk of financial crime.

“Algeria made a considerable progress in adapting its regulation in fighting against money laundering with the international standards”, as it stated the various laws and regulations that are issued in the field of combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and explained that these provisions impose elicit information and pre-verification of all money transfers at the level of banks, and sets strict conditions in the field of cooperation with the authorities in charge of law enforcement.

State Secretariat spoke, in its document, to the report that was issued by the cell of financial query processing for the year 2016, which refers to 125 cases that were forwarded to Justice, and that are related to a suspected violation of exchange rules and the movement of money, asserting that the cells activity reflects the efforts that were made by Algeria, in order to improve the anti-money laundering procedures.

“Algeria is mainly considered a transit country for drug trafficking from Morocco to Europe and the Middle East. Morocco is the main source of drugs towards Algeria”.

“Strengthening control on the land border forced the drug traffickers to resort to maritime routes between Algeria and Morocco, which led to the quality seizure operations by the Algerian coast guards and gendarmerie. Algeria has strengthened the capacity of the customs services for the detection of psychotropic drugs at ports and airports, as they renewed their legislation on seizing these substances and monitoring their production”.

“Algerian government’s efforts in the fight against drug consumption was realized through awareness and prevention programs, the establishment of addiction treatment centers and cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime”.