According to the Algerian defence ministry, on Wednesday, twenty-one individuals were detained in Algeria after an alleged plan to transport arms on a passenger ferry from France.
A man known as Moussa Zaidi and his wife were first apprehended on August 4 in Bejaia, located approximately 220 kilometres (136 miles) east of Algiers, following the discovery of arms inside their vehicle upon their return from Marseille, the ministry reported.
“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 the group were part of the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie (MAK), which Algeria classifies as a “terrorist organisation”.
In total, 21 weapons were seized along with 2,000 live bullets and “clothing similar to military uniforms”, among other things, state news agency APS reported Wednesday.
It remains unclear how the couple managed to depart from the French port with the weapons concealed in their grey Citroën van.
The group was reportedly intent on “sowing disorder and insecurity and disrupting the smooth running of the next presidential elections,” set for September 7, according to the defence ministry.
The ministry also accused “foreign intelligence services hostile to Algeria” of “complicity,” alleging that “a network of this terrorist organisation operating on French soil” supplied the weapons.
Founded in 2001 after a series of protests in the Berber-majority Kabylie region in northeastern Algeria, the MAK has been a significant political force.
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.”