Tebboune warns Algeria could target drug production sites as Morocco remains in the background
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said Sunday that Algeria could target drug manufacturing sites in the name of self-defense. He made the statement in Algiers as Algerian authorities regularly accuse Morocco of fueling drug trafficking into their country.
“We may be led to target the source of the manufacture of these drugs, under the right of self-defense,” Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Sunday, November 15, before magistrates gathered at the Supreme Court in Algiers. The Algerian president was speaking at the opening of the 2026-2027 judicial year. His remarks were reported by the official APS news agency.
Tebboune described the massive influx of drugs into Algeria as a “real war” against the country’s population and youth. The head of state named no country and identified no specific target. The warning nevertheless comes amid repeated accusations against Morocco.
In March 2025, the Algerian president had already denounced a war being waged against his country through drugs. He then located the threat along Algeria’s western and southern borders. Two years earlier, his interior minister, Brahim Merad, had directly accused Algeria’s western neighbor, calling for all means to be mobilized against trafficking.
These accusations resurfaced in the November issue of the Algerian army magazine, El Djeich. The military magazine says Algerian forces thwarted attempts in 2025 to bring 35 tonnes of treated kif across the Moroccan border.
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Algerian security services continue to publish regular reports on their anti-drug operations. In its November 11 statement, Algeria’s Ministry of Defense announced the interception of 288 kilos of treated kif that it said came from the border with Morocco. The same report said 38 drug traffickers had been arrested across the country.
