Algeria Foils an International Human Trafficking Network
Judicial investigations have unveiled shocking facts about organized operations to smuggle Africans from Mali towards Algeria to the Tunisian border, through an international criminal network that has gained great financial wealth, guaranteeing over DZD 1.20 million in one operation.
The case will be decided by the Criminal Court of Boufarik, during the next criminal session, where members of the international human trafficking network, which includes more than 10 Algerian and African defendants, including women, led by what is known in the language of human traffickers as the “Serafs” will appear before for trial, reporting serious incidents related to the crime of forming a transnational organized criminal group specialized in illegal immigration and organizing and managing the illegal migration of people in exchange for a financial benefit. The defendants will face a severe penalty of up to 30 years in prison.
The details of the case, according to information in the possession of Echorouk, are due to the information received by the security services regarding organized and tightly planned human trafficking operations, starting from Mali to the Tunisian border, where African migrants of different nationalities are gathered on the Malian-Algerian border, to be sent towards the city of Tamenrasset (southern Algeria), then they are transferred to the wilaya of Ghardaia, and then to Blida (western Algiers) before they stay for several days in the Bouinan region on the border between Blida and Algiers, so that the trip to the Tunisian border started through secret routes, where the clandestine migrants are delivered to members of the Tunisian network which organized sea journeys to Italy for them.
Judicial investigations revealed that these Africans, during their travel from Mali to Tunisia, members of the network, through camouflage operations, exploited them and employed them in farms, construction and workshops, private factories, restaurants, and other productive, commercial, and service activities, in exchange for a small wage, with an increase in their working hours reaching 14 hours/day, waiting for the trial to reveal other serious facts about the file.
According to Echorouk sources, this serious case demonstrated Algerian security vigilance in confronting the cells of trafficking in human beings and revealed the successful security approach in determining the nature of smugglers’ activities and the methods and routes they use to send people overseas.
Investigations by the security services also showed that the networks operating between Algeria and Mali received large sums of money as a result of this activity, the revenues of which continue, as the illegal immigrant is forced to pay after entering the border, whether through begging, engaging in fraudulent operations, or even working in construction workshops. The important thing is that payment operations continue as part of illegal transfer operations, which has made the state confront the largest operations of mafia networks that exploit the influx of hundreds of immigrants.
