Security officials in Algeria have detained 61 Moroccan citizens following allegations that they were involved in planning acts of sabotage.
Morocco’s General Directorate of National Security released a statement on Sunday clarifying that those taken into custody belonged to an international Moroccan criminal network.
The group, which reportedly includes a former member of the Moroccan military, crossed into Algerian territory by navigating mountain routes from adjacent Tunisia.
According to Algerian officials, the individuals were preparing to commit acts of sabotage undermining security and public order.
The detentions occur against a backdrop of prolonged diplomatic friction between the two North African nations, largely driven by the dispute over Western Sahara. While the United Nations classifies the resource-rich former Spanish colony as a non-self-governing territory, Rabat has maintained control over most of the area for nearly fifty years and regards it as an inseparable portion of its sovereign territory.
Algiers continues to back the pro-independence Polisario Front in its campaign for self-determination.
The shared land boundary between Morocco and Algeria has remained shut since 1994, and Algiers officially severed all diplomatic ties with Rabat in 2021.
Earlier this year in May, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution endorsing Morocco’s proposed autonomy framework for Western Sahara. That decision stated that establishing genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty might offer the most feasible solution to resolve the decades-long conflict.
