In Maghreb countries: a war against monopolists and those who exploit the Corona crisis

Security authorities in the countries of the Maghreb, especially Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco, are cracking down on speculators and commodity monopolists who are exploiting the crisis of the Corona virus outbreak to enrich themselves, and they have likened them to war criminals.

Fraudsters at various levels often seek to exploit crises for enrichment through speculation, black markets, fraud and rumors. The Corona epidemic was no exception in the Maghreb, prompting the authorities to take action to address them.

For more than two weeks, 44 million Algerians have faced a severe shortage of semolina (wheat flour), after massive purchases of this basic material in the food of Algerians caused by a rumor about depletion of stocks, which was widely transmitted by Facebook's pioneers.

Fawzi, a young Algerian contractor, said he had never bought a semolina bag of 25 kilograms, but he did so for fear of worsening the situation and closing bakeries due to the outbreak.

He added that he paid 1,700 Algerian dinars (12.5 euros) instead of 1,200 dinars for the semolina bag, and had no other choice.

And Algerian President Abdel Majid Taboun tried to reassure the Algerians by telling them that the semolina stock is sufficient to meet the demand for four or five months, and he called those who described him as patriots to report and denounce the monopolists.

However, this did not relieve the pressure on the points of sale of the mills, as the crowds gather daily to obtain a semolina bag at the subsidized price, with this poses the risk of transmission of the Coronavirus. This prompted the Ministry of Commerce to announce Tuesday the banning of these gatherings.

The Algerian National Gendarmerie also requested that it be informed of any speculation, monopoly and fraud activities, and that surveillance redoubled.

Between March 22 and April 1, the gendarmerie and the police in Algeria arrested more than 2,500 people who stocked basic foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals for monopoly and speculation purposes.

During this period, more than five thousand tons of food was seized, and about 219,000 pharmaceutical items.

In Algeria, the Maghreb country most affected by the epidemic (193 deaths out of about 150 injuries), the Internet has become a means of transmitting misleading information that contributes to confusion, according to Colonel in the Algerian gendarmerie Abdelkader Zigd.

The spread of rumors about the imminent closure of petrol stations has caused traffic congestion and congestion in most Algerian cities, while the procedure concerned only the city of Blida, near Algiers, the first epicenter of the epidemic.

The Algerian gendarmerie formed teams of "online investigators" specializing in cyber crime to track down spammers. Colonel Gendarmerie d'Algerie said that the tracking operations allowed the arrest of many "opportunists" who publish information that could harm the national interest, as he put it.

Among those arrested was a woman in the city of Oran (west) who published a video clip in which she accused the citizens of being detained in a tourist complex in the area, after their return from abroad, to leave before the end of the quarantine period, using their influence.

Some Algerian media have expressed concern about the threat to freedom of the press and expression, and the authorities recently arrested a director, editor-in-chief and journalist from the "The Other Voice" journal after publishing an article about alleged errors in medical examinations to detect corona-infected patients. They were released, but were placed under judicial supervision.

In Tunisia, too, the authorities have tightened control over speculators and monopolists. At the end of last month, customs seized expired gloves, suits and surgical masks at a value of 500,000 dinars (158,000 euros) in the port of Rades, near the capital, in a warehouse of a arrested businessman.

Like his Algerian counterpart, Tunisian President Qais Said called for the punishment of speculators who he described as "war criminals" after running out of flour and semolina stocks in some areas.

On Tuesday, a certified (state representative) was arrested in the city of Kef (northwest), after he was reported by the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which accused many employees of being involved in selling in the black markets.

In Morocco, speculation began on products in high demand during the quarantine period before the first case of corona appeared on 2 March.

Exploits rushed to buy all the masks, even those for building workshops, and the prices of alcoholic solutions rose.

The Moroccan government set one price for the disinfectant solution and the masks being produced in Morocco.

In the city of Fez (north), police arrested four persons suspected of running a "secret workshop" in a garage for the manufacture and marketing of disinfectant disinfectants.

In another case, the authors of precedents plagiarized the status of state employees participating in health awareness campaigns in Salé, near Rabat, and carried out a number of thefts, according to Moroccan media.

The United Nations Development Program in Rabat warned at the end of last month against "some individuals in the region who pretend to be employees of the United Nations program and carry out fraudulent activities."

The Moroccan authorities have arrested dozens of people accused of spreading "false rumors" related to the new Corona virus on social media.