Three Moroccans arrested in Algerian territorial waters

The press release, which quotes a communiqué from the Ministry of National Defence, does not specify the identity of the detainees. Nor does it mention the reason for the violation of Algerian borders by these three Moroccan nationals at a time when people do not go out to sea on jet skis.

On the Moroccan side, although 48 hours have passed since the disappearance of the people arrested by the Algerian coastguard, there has been no news either from their families or from the official authorities. 

The Algerian Ministry of Defence communiqué limits itself to indicating the nationality of the detainees. The details only refer to the conditions of the interception and the locations. "During a surveillance and security patrol of our territorial waters, a coastguard unit of the western sea front belonging to the 2nd military region intercepted, on Monday 11 December 2023 at around 8.40am, three individuals on board a jet ski who had violated the borders of our western territorial waters about seven nautical miles north of the beach of Marsa Ben M'hidi," reads the communiqué.

According to initial reports, this is a far cry from the case of the sailors whose boats were mistakenly set adrift and the dramatic consequences that followed. Two dead, the body of one of whom is still sequestered in the morgue of an Algerian hospital, and a third tried and convicted within 48 hours of his arrest. He is currently serving an 18-month sentence in a prison in western Algeria.