Twenty-one individuals were apprehended in Algeria in connection with an alleged plot to transport weapons on a commercial ferry originating from France, according to a statement from the defence ministry on Wednesday.
The initial arrests occurred on August 4 in Bejaia, approximately 220 km east of Algiers, where authorities detained a man named Moussa Zaidi and his wife after discovering weapons in their car upon their arrival from Marseille, the ministry detailed.
Following this, security forces arrested 19 additional members of the same terrorist network and confiscated a substantial amount of weapons found in a hidden cache near Bejaia, as per the ministry's statement.
The group is affiliated with the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie (MAK), which Algeria designates as a 'terrorist organisation'. In total, 21 weapons, 2,000 live bullets, and items resembling military uniforms were seized, reported the state news agency APS on Wednesday.
It remains unclear how the couple managed to depart the French port with the weapons in their grey Citroen mini-van. The group's objective was to instigate chaos and insecurity and disrupt the upcoming presidential elections slated for September 7, the defence ministry stated.
The ministry also implicated 'foreign intelligence services hostile to Algeria' in 'complicity', asserting that 'a network of this terrorist organisation operating on French territory' supplied the weapons. MAK was established in 2001 following a series of protests in the predominantly Berber Kabylie region in northeastern Algeria. In 2022, its leader, Ferhat Mehenni, who resides in France, was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for 'creating a terrorist organisation and undermining national integrity and national unity'.
