Algeria arrests 21 after arms seizure linked to separatist group

Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie was plotting to disrupt presidential election, Defence Ministry says

Algeria's Defence Ministry said weapons were found in a car that arrived in the port city of Bejaia on a ferry from Marseille. AFP

Algeria's security services have arrested 21 alleged members of a separatist group after foiling an attempt to smuggle weapons into the country from France.

Two people, a man named Foussa Zaidi and his wife – whose name was not reported – were arrested when authorities found weapons in their car. It had arrived in the north-western coastal city of Bejaia on a ferry from Marseille on August 4, state news agency APS reported, citing a Defence Ministry statement on Wednesday.

The ministry said the couple confessed to being involved in the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie, a separatist group that Algeria classifies as a terrorist organisation.

“Security services proceeded to arrest 19 other members of the same terrorist network and seized another significant quantity of weapons discovered in a clandestine weapons cache near Bejaia,” it said.

The seizure included 21 weapons, 2,000 rounds, bladed weapons and military-style clothing, said the ministry.

The ministry said the items were procured by “a network of this terrorist organisation operating on French territory” and that foreign intelligence services “hostile to Algeria” were complicit, without providing further details.

It said the group was attempting “to sow chaos and destabilise security in order to obstruct the smooth running of the upcoming presidential elections” on September 7.

The MAK emerged in 2001 after security forces shot dead 126 people during protests in the predominantly Amazigh Kabylie region in north-eastern Algeria.

Its leader, Ferhat Mehenni, was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment in 2022 for “undermining national integrity” and “promoting divisions”.

Algerian authorities have also accused the group of involvement in a series of deadly wildfires in 2021 and of conspiring with both Morocco and Israel to harm national unity and security.