Colonel Bennacer Boualem, the former consul of Algeria in Alicante, Spain from September 2019 until early March 2021, has been in police custody for the past 15 days over suspicion of leaking information over the internet and social media, which has in turn shaken the leadership of the Department of Intelligence and Security (DRS) since September 2023, reported news outlet Algerie Part on Sunday.
Algérie Part pointed out, based on its investigations, that Colonel Boualem is currently in custody at the Béchar police barracks, and that his arrest was ordered directly by the commander of the 3rd Military Region, upon the instruction of the Chief of Staff of the Algerian Army, Said Chengriha.
Colonel Boualem also served as the former head of security at the Algerian Consulate in Bobigny in the Paris region from 2010 to 2013.
The Colonel himself is a senior intelligence officer who was removed from the general direction of the DRS since 2021 and reassigned to Algeria’s Béchar in the 3rd military region, a demotion with the curiously intriguing status of “officer without a position.”
The news outlet revealed that such a disgraceful turn of events can be explained by the official’s stubborn refusal to sign a false incriminating testimony against the son of the most influential and powerful advisor to Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Boualem Boualem, in the wake of an investigation conducted at the time; however, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) compromised the case.
The arrest of Colonel Bennacer Boualem raises many questions and fuels serious speculation that reignites concerns about the instability of the DRS, as 5 leaders chaired the department during the past 3 years. Each change was accompanied by a wave of scandalous revelations about the malfunctioning and excesses of this crucial Algerian institution.