Algerian police bust drug smugglers

Algerian authorities in Oran province have thwarted one of the largest ever drug smuggling operations, confiscating a 100-kilogramme stash of cannabis worth more than 200 billion centimes. Five members of an international crime syndicate reportedly operating in western Algiera have been arrested. Authorities made the bust after two months of investigations into the crime network. Security sources revealed they had prior knowledge of the unprecedented operation, which planned to transport drugs into Algeria from across the Moroccan border. Vehicles were raided containing massive amounts of cannabis, camouflaged to avoid suspicion. Authorities in Ain Temounchent also confiscated four quintals of drugs and 1,000 dinars of counterfeit money in two separate operations.