Middle East Monitor
Algerian authorities announced they would increase the number of border surveillance posts on the Algerian-Moroccan borders by building 10 new posts “that will be added to the 24 surveillance posts it had set up in 2015 to activate control measures and stop smuggling between the two countries.”
Akhbar el-Yom newspaper, which reported the news on Thursday, stated that this move that it described as “dramatic,” comes “tighten electronic military surveillance by providing support to the work of the units that are in charge of guarding border security based on intelligence reports briefings”.
According to the same newspaper, “10 border Algerian posts will be built, and so the total number will jump to 24 security surveillance posts that Algeria has established over the past two years, under the pretext of strengthening surveillance and hindering the smuggling networks between the two countries.”
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According to preliminary evidence, the Algerian border posts are to be established in six Algerian border towns: “Ghazaouet, Bab El Assa, Maghnia, Marsa Ben M’Hidi, Souani, and Beni Boussaid “. These are classified as very sensitive border points by security reports, which are often used by widely-spread smuggling gangs.
The newspaper quoted military sources as saying that “the Algerian border posts will be supported by military engineering equipment and about 33 border surveillance cameras, and they will be tasked to track smuggling networks and ISIS’s (Daesh) terrorist groups and cover the large border crossings with surveillance devices that will be functional 24 hours a day non-stop.”
According to the same sources, the “Command of the Second Military Zone of the Border Guard formed a work and follow-up cell on the construction of border posts, which are scheduled to be opened before the end of April, to raise the border guards’ security vigilance and support them with new security equipment to combat organised and cross-continental crimes.”
The Algerian border posts will be built along the line of contact with the cities of Oujda, Berkane, Taourirt, as well as Jerada. The border guards will be increased to provide security information, control the movement of smuggling networks and face the terrorist threats that are coming from the Sahel and Sahara and that seek to break though the region.
