السبت 10 ماي 2025

“Algeria faces war of drugs waged by its western neighbour,” says Interior Minister Merad

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By: Hana Saada
“Algeria faces war of drugs waged by its western neighbour,” says Interior Minister Merad

BY: Hana Saada

 

ALGIERS- The minister of the Interior, Local Authorities and National Planning, Brahim Merad, said, Thursday, that Algeria was facing a war of drugs that required the mobilisation of all means.

Speaking during a plenary session at the People’s National Assembly (APN) devoted to oral questions, he noted that “Algeria faces a war waged by its western neighbour,” insisting, in this sense, on the need “to face this war with all the means, through the association of all sectors and specialized bodies as well as civil society”.

According to Brahim Merad, the efforts of the Algerian National Security services “have resulted in the elucidation of 32,742 cases during the first quarter of the current year involving 37,352 individuals”.

“These cases resulted in the seizure of 2.5 tons of cannabis and 17 kg of cocaine and nearly one (1) kg of heroin as well as 3.5 million psychotropic tablets,” he said.

For the Minister, this “heavy and growing” balance sheet attests to the efforts made by the National Security in coordination with the Interior services and the various security bodies in the fight against the various forms of drug-related crime.

“It is also intended as proof of the availability and vigilance of state institutions in the fight against this scourge”.

With regard to the measures taken in this context, the Minister affirmed that his services, in coordination with the various sectors concerned, “have drawn up a comprehensive and balanced national strategy, essentially aimed at stemming the flow of narcotics, while guaranteeing the effective support for drug addicts in terms of treatment and social integration, under the supervision of a working group specializing in the prevention of this phenomenon”.

He specified, in the process, that the various security services are working on “the development and implementation of action plans by involving their operational units in the fight against drug and psychotropic trafficking and by adopting a preventive policy based on awareness of the risks of this phenomenon”.

In the same context, he recalled “the implementation of a national prevention strategy against neighborhood gangs, spanning between 2023 and 2026 under the supervision of a national commission” .

“It aims to adopt mechanisms for vigilance and alert and early detection, information, awareness and the guarantee of security coverage”.

 

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