Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Sunday that Algeria drug trafficking had become “a real war on our people and our youth” and that the country might have to go after the source of the drugs in self-defence.
The remark, made in Algiers at the opening of the 2026-27 judicial year, was the first time Mr Tebboune has publicly raised acting beyond Algeria’s borders against the trade, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said. It follows a year of tougher measures, including death sentences for major traffickers and plans for a desert prison.
What did Tebboune say about Algeria drug trafficking?
“Flooding Algeria with drugs has become a real war on our people and our youth, but we may be forced to go to the source where these drugs are made, within the right of legitimate self-defence,” Mr Tebboune said, according to the text reported by El Bilad and Echorouk. The quotes are translated from Arabic.
He did not name any country or group, Madar reported, and did not say what form such action might take. He also said terrorism had been “harnessed” against Algeria and its neighbours and that the army would protect them.
Mr Tebboune spoke as head of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary at the Supreme Court, before senior officials and members of the government, according to Eddiwan. Most of the speech dealt with the courts: he praised judges’ work against corruption and new commercial courts, and promised stricter laws against hoarding and speculation that push up food prices.
How large is Algeria drug trafficking?
To measure Algeria drug trafficking, the defence ministry publishes weekly seizure figures, mostly of cannabis resin that it says is smuggled across the closed western border with Morocco. In 2024 security forces seized 36.8 tonnes of processed cannabis and arrested 2,621 traffickers, Xinhua reported, citing the ministry. Official figures put 2025 seizures at about 35 tonnes, with more than 2,300 arrests, the state-owned daily Horizons reported.
Recent seizures have been concentrated in the west, around Bechar and Tlemcen, according to the Algeria Press Service. Those figures come from the government and could not be independently checked. The land border between the two countries has been closed since 1994.
What has Algeria already done about drug trafficking?
Law 25-03 of July 2025, the centrepiece of the response to Algeria drug trafficking, made major trafficking punishable by death, and an Algiers court handed down the second death sentence under it in October, the Rio Times reported. Algeria has not carried out an execution since a moratorium declared in 1993, and it is unclear whether those sentences will be enforced.
The Supreme Security Council, chaired by Mr Tebboune, has also ordered an army barracks in the Tanezrouft desert, near Bordj Badji Mokhtar, to be turned into a high-security prison for traffickers, the Africa Defense Forum reported. Mr Tebboune cited both steps on Sunday.
The warning comes as relations with Rabat remain strained, including over Western Sahara, where the end of the UN mission prompted a Polisario mobilisation call this week. Morocco’s government had not commented on the speech by Sunday evening. Smuggling networks across North and West Africa have also been the target of recent INTERPOL operations.
What happens next?
Mr Tebboune promised new, stricter laws but gave no timetable. Whether the “source” remark leads to any change in military policy on Algeria drug trafficking will depend on decisions by the Supreme Security Council, which has not announced any.
FAQ
What did Tebboune say about Algeria drug trafficking?
He called it a real war on Algeria’s people and youth and said Algeria might go to the source of the drugs in self-defence. He named no country.
Where did he speak?
At the Supreme Court in Algiers, opening the 2026-27 judicial year on 15 November as head of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary.
Does Algeria execute drug traffickers?
A 2025 law allows the death penalty for major trafficking and courts have passed such sentences, but Algeria has observed a moratorium on executions since 1993.
How much cannabis is seized in Algeria drug trafficking cases?
About 36.8 tonnes in 2024 and about 35 tonnes in 2025, according to official figures reported by Xinhua and Horizons.
