Rabat – Panama customs arrested last week a Polisario member in possession of $65,000 undeclared cash.
News report El Siglo reported the news earlier this month, stressing that Panama authorities prevented the Polisario member from leaving the country pending an investigation.
“At the request of the Prosecutor’s Office, the seizure of more than 65,000 undeclared dollars was ordered,” the report said, stressing that the event took place on May 11.
The defendant arrived in Panama from the Republic of Cuba, with security services arresting him “upon being verified by agents of the National Customs authority.at the Panamanian International Airport,” noted the report, adding that the arrested Polisario member will appear before a judge on June 9.
In a news report, the Forum for the Autonomists of Tindouf (FORSATIN), identified the suspect as Tahar Ould Akeik, the nephew of Mohamed El Ouali, whom the Polisario Front leadership appointed in 2021 as the “army chief” of the separatist group.
Both Algerian authorities and Poliario members in Cuba “intervened” to “cover up the name of the accused,” FORSATIN reported. “The defendant is a member of an international network affiliated with the Polisario Front,” FORSATIN’s report said, stressing that the defendant is an “active” member in the black market and money smuggling.
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Also according to FORSATIN, the Polisario member owns an unlicensed trading company active in import and export operations between China, Panama, and Cuba.
Akeik’s company has branches in the Tindouf camps and benefits from the”influence of his uncle,” who is the “actual owner of the company,” FORSATIN further revealed.
This is not the first report linking senior members of the separatist Polisario Front to embezzlement and money smuggling.
Last month, after intercepting a tanker carrying over 40 tonnes of fuel bound for Mauritania, a group of Sahrawis denounced the inhumane conditions in the Tindouf camps.
“The Polisario Front in coordination with Algerian customs completely prevented fuel from being exported,” the news website Sahel70 reported today, stressing that such measures “do not apply to everyone as institutions and people are still practicing this profitable activity in complete comfort.”
The report also accused Polisario leaders of involvement in supporting networks linked to similar embezzlement and fuel diversion operations.
