A week before the presidential elections, the algerian authorities announced claimed to have dismantled a spy and intelligence network aimed at undermining national security, consisting of three Moroccans. This announcement comes as part of what is known as the usual “drum heating” process that precedes elections.
Mustafa Loubar, the public prosecutor at the Tlemcen court, revealed in a press conference that the discovery of the network followed the arrest of a Moroccan who had entered Algeria illegally. Six individuals, including three Algerians and three Moroccans, were arrested after information was received about suspicious movements of one of them in the center of Tlemcen.
This announcement did not surprise observers in Morocco who are accustomed to such announcements from the Algerian regime, which always tries to raise the threat of Morocco to scare Algerians. The regime has, on several occasions, announced the fictitious arrests of Moroccan nationals.