The public prosecutor’s office in Tlemcen, in western Algeria, announced on Sunday the arrests of seven suspects, including four Moroccan nationals, allegedly belonging to an “espionage network”, roughly a week before presidential elections on Saturday, September 7.

“A judge (…) ordered (yesterday) Sunday the pre-trial detention of seven people, including four Moroccans, following the recent dismantling of an espionage and intelligence-gathering network aimed at undermining state security,” said the city’s public prosecutor’s office, which is adjacent to the Morocco, according to state news agency APS.

A judicial investigation has begun against the “persons identified in the investigation”, as they are accused of “gathering information for the benefit of a foreign country”, the “crime of espionage” as well as “illegal entry into the territory for the three Moroccan nationals” , according to the same source.

“The ring recruited Moroccan and Algerian citizens with the aim of inflicting a blow on Algerian security and public administration institutions,” the prosecution insisted.

In Algeria, presidential elections are held on Saturday, in which the outgoing president Abdelmadjid Taboun is considered a big favorite. He will face the Islamist candidate Abdalali Hassani and the socialist politician Youssef Awissa.

According to the Tlemcen prosecutor’s office, after the arrest on August 24 of a Moroccan citizen, who “entered illegally” in Algerian territory and identified with the initials “Z.M.”, this case of “espionage” was revealed, thanks to data found on his mobile phone.

The suspect worked, always according to the prosecution, “within a network of espionage and information gathering for the account of a foreign state”, which also included “Moroccan and Algerian nationals”.

After his arrest, six other persons, three Algerians and three Moroccans, were taken into custody on 28 August.

Algiers cut diplomatic ties with Rabat in August 2021, denouncing a series of “hostile actions” by the neighboring kingdom, notably over the disputed region of Western Sahara, the normalization of relations with Israel and support for the separatists of the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia (KAK), which the Algerian authorities characterize as a terrorist organization.

Morocco described this decision as “completely unjustified”, rejecting the accusations of its neighboring country.