Kidnapping in Algeria of the 4 children of General Gaïd Salah, mentor of President Tebboune, by the secret services

Mourad, Hichem, Boumediene and Adel have been missing for ten days without anyone saying a word. Their elderly mother is fighting alone for news of her sons, who were abducted by plainclothes officers who broke into the family home in Annaba, a city 600 km east of Algiers, in the early hours of the morning. 

General Ahmed Gaïd Salah's widow travelled to Algiers to request an interview with President Tebboune, who owed his position to her late husband. She was refused access to the presidential palace. She then went to the headquarters of the army general staff to request an audience with General Saïd Chengriha. Again, all doors were closed to her. She tried four more times to meet General Chengriha. To no avail. On the third attempt, she fainted. She was evacuated to the military hospital in Aïn Nadja, but there was no meeting with the strongman of the current regime.

Just a few hours ago, she finally received news of her four sons, two of whom, Mourad and Hichem, had been released. The other two, Boumediene and Adel, are being held at the Technical Investigation Centre (CTRI) of the 5th Military Region in Constantine. They will appear before the prosecutor of the military court in the next few hours and will undoubtedly be remanded in custody pending trial. 

Boumediene and Adel Gaïd Salah are implicated in several cases of corruption, influence peddling and illicit enrichment. They had already been investigated by the army's Central Security Directorate on the same charges in 2020. However, by order of President Tebboune, they were released and the case was closed. However, like many other children of generals and former senior government officials, they remain subject to a ban on leaving the country. 

Newly installed in the presidential palace thanks to an unprecedented electoral fraud organised by General Ahmed Gaïd Salah, President Tebboune's memory was still fresh and he could not turn so quickly against his mentor, even if the latter is in hiding. The same was true of General Saïd Chengriha, who owes his position to the same Gaïd Salah who appointed him commander of the ground forces, paving the way for his succession as chief of staff of the Algerian army.

Four years have passed since the first arrest of the two sons of the late general, and here they are once again in the nets of justice. It is the case of General Aouis Soufiane that will unearth the case of Gaïd Salah's sons.  

The former head of the Central Directorate of Military Infrastructures and former head of the Central Construction Establishment, a company belonging to the Ministry of National Defence and specialised in infrastructure works (see our article of 24/10/2023), was arrested last October for several cases of corruption and illicit enrichment. The sum of 300 billion Algerian centimes, the equivalent of 20,448,000 euros, was discovered at his home.  

During his appearance, he mentioned Gaïd Salah's sons as accomplices. They provided him with protection thanks to their father, then Chief of Army Staff and Deputy Minister of National Defence. Obviously, they received a comfortable percentage in return.  

They will join him in the military prison to share with him the dark days that await him.