Algerian authorities arrest 21 suspected members of terrorist network

Algerian authorities announced on Tuesday the arrest of 21 individuals suspected of belonging to a "terrorist network" and the seizure of a significant cache of weapons and ammunition, including items hidden in a car that had traveled by ferry from France to Bejaïa, in the northeastern part of the country.

The Ministry of Defense reported that on August 4, a man and his wife were apprehended at the port of Bejaïa, found in possession of firearms, ammunition, foreign currency, and other items concealed in their vehicle. The couple had attempted to smuggle these items into Algeria from the port of Marseille, France.

According to a statement from the Ministry, following the initiation of an investigation, the suspect confessed to his involvement with and allegiance to the "MAK" (Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie), which is classified as a terrorist organization by Algerian authorities.

The investigation subsequently led to the arrest of 19 other members of the same terrorist network and the discovery of "another significant quantity of weapons" in a clandestine workshop for repairing firearms near Bejaïa, a port city located approximately 250 km east of Algiers.

In total, authorities seized "21 firearms, 2,000 rounds of various calibers, clothing resembling military uniforms, bladed weapons, and stocks of cartridges," according to Deputy Prosecutor Sidali Bouzrina of the Sidi M'Hamed court near Algiers, as reported by the official APS news agency.

The Ministry indicated that "the seized weapons (found in the couple's minivan) had been acquired by a network of this terrorist organization," operating on French soil, with the intention of "smuggling them" into Algeria and delivering them to dormant cells of the organization.

These cells were allegedly planning "terrorist actions according to a set agenda, with the complicity of foreign intelligence services hostile to Algeria, aimed at creating disorder and disrupting the smooth conduct" of the presidential election scheduled for September 7.

The MAK, which emerged from the "Kabylie Spring" of 2001, is accused by the Algerian authorities of pursuing "separatist" ambitions and promoting anti-Arab racism. The organization is officially classified as a terrorist group in Algeria.

In November 2022, its leader, singer Ferhat Mehenni, who resides in France, was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment by an Algiers court for "creating a terrorist organization and undermining national integrity and unity."