ALGIERS: Twenty-one people have been arrested in Algeria after an alleged attempt to smuggle arms through a commercial ferry coming from France, said the defence ministry.
The ministry said that two people, a man named Moussa Zaidi and his wife, were arrested on August 4 in Bejaia, 220 kilometers east of Algiers, after authorities found weapons inside their car upon their arrival from Marseille.
“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 in a statement.
The defence ministry said they were part of the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie (MAK), which Algeria terms a terrorist organization.
Overall, 21 weapons were seized along with 2,000 bullets and military uniforms, the state news agency reported.
It is not clear how the couple had managed to leave the French port with the arms in their vehicle, a grey Citroen mini-van.
The defence ministry said the group is sowing disorder and trying to disrupt the smooth running of the next presidential elections scheduled to be held on September 7.
The ministry also blamed foreign intelligence services hostile to Algeria for complicity saying that a network of this terrorist organization is operating on French territory and providing the weapons.
MAK was founded in 2001 after a series of protests in the Berber-majority region of Kabylie in northeastern Algeria.
