Algeria tightens control of smuggling tunnels

Algerian Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahia, has announced his decision to tighten control over the smuggling tunnels’ on the Morocco-Algeria boarder.  During the past year, fuel has been smuggled from Algeria to Morocco via a series of underground and illegal tunnels, amounting to losses of $42 million.  Local witnesses from the eastern Moroccan town of Wajda Elhododiha confirmed that the Algerian authorities boosted the security deployment on the border with Morocco to stop the practice of smuggling, which has reached high records in recent times. A media source in Rabat Tuesday confirmed that a report signed by the Algerian minister of Energy and Mines, Youssef Youssefy, claimed that the Algerian economy has suffered between $3.7 and $4.2 million a month because of the fuel smuggled through the Tilimsan border The move came within the context of a comprehensive assessment conducted by the Algerian government and supervised by the Prime Minister himself to study the social, economic, and security expected ramifications in re-opening of the border closed between the two neighbors. Moroccan political bservers explained this decision was a confirmation to Algeria not to re-open the border closed since 1994. An Algerian governmental news agency quoted Lt. Colonel, Abdul-Hamid Krood, an official from the Public Information Office, saying that "the Gendarmerie Command adopts a strategy adapted with configuring border’ style and border guard units to ensure optimal secure to the border, also the fight against all forms of crime through borders, such as the drug smuggling" It is noteworthy that the drug smuggling’ phenomenon across the Moroccan-Algerian border has increased remarkably, especially the hallucinogenic and narcotic pills named locally as "Al Karkooby", which has been smuggled along with medicines and other goods.