ALGERIA'S 2009-2010 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS

UNCLAS ALGIERS 000982

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INL: JLYLE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR AG
SUBJECT: ALGERIA'S 2009-2010 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS
CONTROL STRATEGY REPORT (INCSR),PART I, DRUGS AND CHEMICAL
CONTROL

REF: STATE 97309

Summary
--------------


1. (U) Algeria is primarily a transit country for drugs,
but both domestic production and consumption are rising.
Drug seizures increased substantially in 2008 and the first
half of 2009. The Government of Algeria (GOA) is committed
to addressing the problem and has begun several domestic
programs to combat drug use and production, but Algeria faces
significant difficulties in securing its borders against
cross-border trafficking. Algeria is a party to the 1988 UN
Drug Convention.

Status of Country
--------------


2. (U) Algeria currently is not a major center of drug
production, money laundering, or production of precursor
chemicals. However, it remains a significant transit point
for drug trafficking into Europe and is evolving from merely
a transit point into a destination and producer of drugs as
well. There is a small but growing domestic market for
harder drugs such as heroin and cocaine, but cannabis remains
the most widely-used illicit drug in the country.


3. (U) The government takes the drug problem seriously,
and efforts are underway to combat both distribution and use.
The GOA has introduced a public awareness program and has
established treatment facilities to educate and treat those
affected by drug use, and law enforcement and border security
agencies are actively engaged in stopping the production in
and flow of drugs through Algeria. Trafficking arrests and
drug seizures are frequently reported in the Algerian press.



4. (U) According to Algeria's National Office for the
Fight Against Drugs and Addiction (ONLCDT),Algeria is a
transit point for drugs smuggled from Morocco to Europe.
Algerian officials assert that Morocco is the principal
source of drugs such as cannabis entering Algeria. The GOA
at times also blames an increase in illegal immigration
through Algeria for the increase in drug usage by Algerian
youth. Algeria faces serious problems with cross-border
trafficking, particularly in the southern areas of the
country, where the vast desert along Algeria's southern
border is almost impossible to secure completely. There was
a significant increase in drug trafficking attempts in 2008
due to the proliferation of drug networks throughout the
country and the refinement of their methods, drawn from their
collaboration with international drug networks and their use
of improved communications equipment. The National
Gendarmerie reports that the bulk of drugs seized in Algeria
is intended for export, while there is likely a large
increase in domestic drug consumption as well. Public
statements by the National Gendarmerie indicate that the GOA
is committed to combating drug trafficking, which it sees as
a national threat.


5. (U) In addition to smuggling activities, Algeria in
recent years has seen an increase in domestic drug
production, particularly cannabis being cultivated in the
southeast and in the area of the capital, Algiers. In 2008,
there also were several front-page press reports of domestic
poppy production, noting that areas of Algeria's southern
Sahel region were being used for poppy cultivation.
Algeria's judicial police division indicated that drug
seizures increased markedly from 2007 to 2008, and the amount
of cannabis seized in the first half of 2009 exceeds that of
the entire year of 2008.

Country Actions Against Drugs
--------------


6. (U) Policy Initiatives: Algeria's official national
drug policy consists of five stated goals: (1) revision of
laws related to drugs and addiction; (2) education and
information campaigns; (3) improved national coordination
mechanisms; (4) improved law enforcement capacity; and (5)
reinforcement of bilateral, regional, and international
efforts on anti-narcotics and border control efforts.


7. (U) The GOA's internal anti-narcotics legislative
policies strive to adapt Algerian drug and trafficking laws
to address the increased trafficking and consumption levels,
and to bring Algerian legislation into conformity with
international conventions, particularly the 1988 UN Drug
Convention. Other plans include drafting regulations
governing incineration of narcotics and reviewing control


mechanisms for the legal production, marketing, and storage
of drugs and psychotropic substances.


8. (U) The ONLCDT is charged with developing national
policies in the realms of drug prevention, treatment, and
suppression, and with coordinating and ensuring
follow-through. The office is the government's center for
the collection and analysis of data on trafficking, use, and
treatment in the country. ONLCDT in 2008 held four regional
seminars on the creation, enactment, and evaluation of
anti-drug programs and participated in several conferences
hosted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and
European anti-narcotics organizations.


9. (U) Law Enforcement Efforts: The following table is a
summary of Algeria's drug seizures since 2007, based on
statistics provided by the ONLCDT.

2009 (January-June):
Cannabis: 44,600 Kg; 1618 plants
Cocaine (including crack): 537 gr
Heroin and Opium: 372 gr; 977 plants
Other psychotropic substances: 42,164 tablets; 990 Ml
solutions

2008:
Cannabis: 38,041 Kg; 10,712 plants
Cocaine (including crack): 784 gr
Heroin and Opium: 1 10 gr; 77,612 plants
Other psychotropic substances: 924,398 tablets; 2,050 Ml
solutions

2007:
Cannabis: 16,641 Kg; 20,987 plants
Cocaine (including crack): 22,055 gr
Heroin and Opium: 382 gr; 74,817 plants
Other psychotropic substances: 233,950 tablets; 5,960 Ml
solutions


10. (U) Algerian security agencies are expanding their
capabilities to respond to crime by adding personnel and
attempting to engage in more training. Increased interagency
intelligence sharing and interdiction efforts improved the
effectiveness of government responses, increasing seizures in
2008; seizures to date in 2009 are far exceeding those of

2008.


11. (U) In the first half of 2009, Algeria arrested 6,163
individuals on drug-related offenses, comprising 2,021
arrested for drug trafficking, 4,128 arrested for drug use,
and 14 arrested for cultivating cannabis and opium. Of those
arrested, 46 were foreigners, including 8 Nigerians, 5
Malians, 5 Nigeriens, 3 Moroccans, 3 Liberians, 2 French, 1
Spanish, 1 Tunisian, and 18 of unspecified nationality. In
2008, Algeria arrested 10,954 individuals on drug-related
offenses, comprising 3,520 arrested for drug trafficking,
7,365 arrested for drug use, and 69 arrested for cultivating
cannabis or opium. Of those arrested, 118 were foreigners,
including 23 Nigerians, 15 Malians, 12 Nigeriens, 11
Moroccans, 9 Gambians, 5 Cameroonians, 5 French, 3 Spanish, 3
Ghanaians, 2 Ugandans, 1 Congolese, 1 Ivorian, 1 Liberian, 1
Sierra Leonean, 1 Chadian, 1 Tunisian, 1 Turk, and 23 of
unspecified nationality.


12. (U) Algerian law provides for a prison sentence of 2
months to 2 years and a fine of roughly USD 70 to USD 750 for
personal consumption of narcotics or psychotropic substances
and a term of 10 to 20 years and a fine of roughly USD 70,000
to USD 700,000 for production or distribution.


13. (U) Corruption: The Algerian government does not as a
matter of government policy encourage or facilitate illicit
production or distribution of narcotic or psychotropic drugs
or other controlled substances, or the laundering of proceeds
from illegal drug transactions. However, some cases of
narcotics-related corruption among governmental, judicial,
military, or law enforcement officials almost certainly

occur; the Algerian press periodically includes reports of
arrests of low-level police or military officers for drug
offenses. Algerian law provides a maximum prison sentence
of ten years and fines ranging from USD 2,500 to USD 150,000
for public officials convicted of any form of corruption.


14. (U) Agreements and Treaties: Algeria is a party to the
1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1971 UN Convention on
Psychotropic Substances, the 1961 UN Single Convention on
Narcotic Drugs as amended by the 1972 Protocol, and the UN
Convention against Corruption. Algeria also is a party to
the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and
its protocols. Algeria and the United States currently are


finalizing terms of a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty that
will govern cooperation on law enforcement matters.


15. (U) Cultivation/Production: The GOA has stated its
commitment to the total eradication of domestic cannabis and
opium poppy production. In the cannabis-producing southern
and western regions of the country, the government is
implementing an eradication program linked to a development
strategy involving reform of local government and a highly
subsidized crop substitution program. Nevertheless, Algerian
drug officials have indicated that crop substitution programs
have made little headway in providing economic alternatives
to cannabis production. The government in 2008 reported that
as a result of intensified law enforcement and interdiction
measures it eradicated illicitly cultivated opium poppy in
small areas in the north of the country. Over 74,000 poppy
seedlings were eradicated in 2007 and almost 80,000 were
eradicated in the first nine months of 2008.


16. (U) Drug Flow/Transit: Algeria is a source of hashish
for Europe. Shipments include hashish produced domestically
and in Morocco. Spain, Italy, and France are all transfer
points for Europe-bound Algerian drug flows. Most large
shipments of illicit drugs bound for Europe
reportedly travel via fishing vessels or private yachts.


17. (U) Algeria's vast desert and ocean borders make
smuggling of all kinds a significant challenge for the
country's police, border security, customs, and immigration
forces. Algeria's long and often poorly demarcated borders
with Tunisia, Libya, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, and Morocco
lend themselves to cross-border trafficking. The large
expanse of desert along Algeria's southern border is almost
impossible to secure in its entirety, but public statements
by the National Gendarmerie indicate that the government is
keen to combat drug traffickers.


18. (U) Algerian officials frequently comment on the large
amounts of illegal drugs that enter Algeria from Morocco, and
the GOA recognizes the need for better regional cooperation
on border security and drug trafficking. Security force
sources say that more than 13 tons of drugs were seized near
the Algerian/Moroccan border during 2008. Algerian officials
also have suggested that drug smuggling networks in the south
are coordinating with terrorist groups, which engage in
extortion and money laundering.


19. (U) Domestic Programs (Demand Reduction): To address
prevention and treatment, the GOA's national drug policy
includes the introduction of lessons on the dangers of drugs
into mosque sermons, the expansion of education programs to
increase public awareness, and efforts to coordinate better
actions taken by different ministerial departments,
particularly Health, Education, and Justice. The ONLCDT also
conducts anti-drug use campaigns in schools and local
communities.


20. (U) Algerian officials have increasingly voiced their
concern about signs of growing domestic heroin and cocaine
use. In 2008, the GOA launched a public campaign to reduce
domestic demand for those drugs as well as for cannabis. The
Ministry of Health has established a program to train the
staffs of psychiatric hospitals in the treatment of drug
addiction and launched a program to establish drug centers
countrywide. Algeria's national drug policy also includes
the support and expansion of drug treatment facilities and
the creation of post-rehabilitation centers to provide
extended treatment and to help reintroduce drug addicts into
society in an effort to prevent recidivism.

U.S. Policy Initiatives
--------------


21. (U) The USG supports Algeria's efforts to improve its
counternarcotics capabilities and plans to begin training
with Algerian police and customs officials in FY 2010,
particularly in regard to trafficking.
PEARCE