A new regulatory text has just added another layer to Algeria’s arsenal against drug trafficking. Published in the Official Gazette on Thursday, August 6th, executive decree No. 26-272, dated August 1st, 2026, sets out the conditions and procedures for rewarding individuals whose information leads to the identification or arrest of those responsible for offences involving narcotics and psychotropic substances, or that helps put an end to such offences.
In practical terms, the text establishes a system of both financial and non-financial incentives for anyone who provides useful information to the agencies in charge of the fight against drugs. The funds set aside to cover these rewards will be drawn directly from the program budgets of the ministries overseeing the departments responsible for enforcing law No. 04-18 of December 25th, 2004, the legal foundation that has underpinned drug trafficking prevention and repression in Algeria for more than two decades, and which was itself tightened by a much stricter law passed in July 2025.
The decree also spells out quite precisely who is eligible for these rewards. One notable safeguard has been built into the text: officers and civil servants directly tasked with investigating and establishing these offences are excluded from the incentive scheme. The measure is therefore aimed exclusively at ordinary citizens, not at personnel already paid by the state to carry out these duties, a distinction meant to prevent any conflict of interest within the enforcement services themselves.
Confidentiality is another pillar of the system. Under the terms of the decree, everyone involved in implementing the scheme is required to keep secret any information and documents that could identify individuals who supplied intelligence on drug-related offences. Failure to comply exposes offenders to the penalties provided for under current legislation, a guarantee intended to shield informants from possible retaliation by the networks they help expose.
This initiative did not appear out of thin air. It falls directly in line with the National Anti-Drug Strategy covering the 2025-2029 period, whose draft decree had already been reviewed by the Council of Government several months earlier. The stated goal at the time was clear: to draw the whole of society into a preventive and deterrent approach to what authorities describe as a national scourge.
The measure joins a series of steps taken in recent months to reinforce Algeria’s response to rising drug trafficking and consumption, particularly among young people and in certain fragile urban environments. Back in January, two other executive decrees had already marked a shift toward prevention by making drug screening mandatory for anyone applying for a job, whether in the public administration or the private sector. The July 2025 law had, for its part, significantly increased the penalties facing traffickers while strengthening medical support for people struggling with addiction.
Recent events on the ground illustrate just how persistent the problem remains. On the very day this decree on informant rewards was published, a bus driver who tested positive for drugs was arrested on the East-West highway, a reminder that drug use has made inroads into sensitive sectors such as public transport.
By betting on citizen participation to complement its security and judicial toolkit, Algeria appears to be replicating a logic already tested in other areas of the fight against organized crime, where authorities count on social networks to make up for the limits of law enforcement operations alone. What remains to be seen is whether this new financial lever will be enough to convince a meaningful number of citizens to come forward, in a context where fear of retaliation has historically been one of the main obstacles to this kind of cooperation with the justice system.