Algerian ambush kills three Moroccan traffickers, seizes 74 kg of resin
Algerian army, border guard and customs detachments ambushed a group in Ghenama, Béchar wilaya, on the night of 28 January 2026, killing three armed Moroccan traffickers and arresting a fourth. The defence ministry said the operation seized 74 kg of cannabis resin, a hunting rifle, binoculars and four phones.
🇩🇿 Ghenama, Béchar wilaya, near the Moroccan border · Algeria
Algeria’s defence ministry said security forces killed three armed Moroccan
traffickers and arrested a fourth in an ambush in the Ghenama area of Béchar
wilaya, near the Moroccan border, on the night of Wednesday 28 January 2026.[1]The ambush was laid by joint detachments of the People’s National Army, the
border guard and Algerian customs, the ministry said.[2]The ministry said the
group had tried to take advantage of the bad weather across the country to carry
out its crimes.[1]
Officers seized74 kg of cannabis resin, a hunting rifle, binoculars, four
mobile phones and other items, according to the ministry.[1]The ministry
published the names of the three dead and of the man arrested, all said to be
Moroccan nationals; it gave no other details of the interception.[3]
In a separate statement the army said it had seized 174 kg of Moroccan cannabis
resin in the week of 21 to 27 January.[1]The incident happened amid acute
tension between the two North African neighbours, whose border has been closed
since 1994.[1]TSA Algérie reported that the operation was presented by the
army as a warning to anyone seeking to enter Algerian territory.[3]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The ministry statement gives no detail of how the ambush unfolded, what the group was carrying it in, or where the 74 kg was found.
No charge, prosecutor's referral or court outcome was reported for the man arrested, named in the ministry statement.
Moroccan authorities did not comment; El Khabar later cited a second ministry statement reporting 447 kg recovered in the same Ghenama area after the ambush, a separate follow-up seizure not counted in these figures.
The photo on the Le Monde page is an archive picture of a border guard from November 2021, not of this ambush.
The route field records Morocco as the origin because the ministry described the men as Moroccan nationals and the seizure as coming from Morocco; the sources do not state where the group crossed.
Algiers police arrested six people suspected of running a neighbourhood gang that intimidated residents of Draria, seizing 19.6 grams of processed cannabis alongside cocaine, psychotropic tablets, bladed weapons and suspected drug proceeds. The six were presented before the public prosecutor at the Chéraga court.
Béjaïa police arrested nine people in a drug-trafficking investigation that began in Oued Ghir and continued with searches in Barbacha and Saket. Officers seized a piece of Indian hemp alongside pregabalin and ecstasy tablets; seven were remanded and two placed under judicial supervision.
Algeria's army said its combined detachments, working with the security services, intercepted 38 narcotrafiquants and foiled attempts to bring 2 quintals and 88 kilograms (288 kg) of kif traité, treated cannabis, across the Moroccan borders between 4 and 10 November 2026. The same operations also yielded cocaine and psychotropic tablets, which are not counted as cannabis.
Army detachments in the 3rd Military Region stopped two drug convoys near Béchar on 1 and 2 October 2026, killing one trafficker and seizing 1,660 kg of treated kif plus three pairs of day binoculars. The defence ministry announced the operation on 4 October.
