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Marrakech – In an embarrassing security breach exposing the deep fractures within Algeria’s fragile power structure, former intelligence chief Abdelkader Haddad, known as “Nacer El-Djinn,” has spectacularly escaped surveillance and fled the country.
This humiliating episode has triggered an unprecedented security lockdown across Algiers, revealing the regime’s panic and internal power struggles.
The disappearance of El-Djinn, who led the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) from July 2024 until his abrupt dismissal in May this year, has sent shockwaves through Algeria’s ruling elite.
An emergency meeting of the High Security Council, presided over by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, was hastily convened on Thursday, September 18, indicating the severity of the crisis.
The fugitive general, who earned his sinister nickname “El-Djinn” (the devil or evil angel) during his time leading counter-terrorism operations, was under surveillance in his villa in the upscale Delly Brahim neighborhood when he vanished, reportedly in the middle of last week. His two mobile phones no longer connect to networks, leaving authorities scrambling.
The regime’s panicked response transformed Algiers into a virtual prison reminiscent of the bloody “black decade” of the 1990s. Military and police checkpoints have choked major arteries, helicopters hover continuously over the capital, and intensive raids have paralyzed economic activity.
The security deployment included roadblocks, street closures, and vehicle searches – even by plainclothes agents – causing massive traffic jams throughout the metropolitan area.
This security operation, unprecedented in scale since the “black decade,” bears all the hallmarks of a desperate manhunt for a fugitive.
One man holds keys to Algeria’s collapse
Speculation about El-Djinn’s whereabouts runs rampant. Some sources claim he fled to Spain, where he owns at least one property in Barcelona and previously lived from 2015 to 2020 during an earlier period of disfavor. Others suggest he may be hiding somewhere in Algeria or has possibly reached Switzerland.
Most credible sources indicate he likely escaped via the Mediterranean aboard a powerful speedboat commonly used by Algerian migrants to reach Spanish shores – a journey taking as little as 90 minutes.
The escape clearly required inside help, exposing dangerous rifts within Algeria’s security apparatus.
The first casualties of this fiasco include General Mahrez Djeribi, head of the Army’s Central Security Directorate (DCSA) since May 2023, and the chief of the Main Military Investigation Center (CPMI) in Ben Aknoun, both dismissed for their failures. Additional arrests have targeted officers in these agencies.
El-Djinn, described as a “lone wolf” and infiltration specialist, possesses both the field skills and financial resources to orchestrate such an escape.
As a “black box” of regime secrets, he holds potentially devastating information about political assassinations during the black decade and sensitive recent cases, including the mysterious death of former army chief Ahmed Gaïd Salah in 2019. His name has also surfaced in reports about attempted kidnappings of dissidents in Europe.
The fugitive now imperils Algeria’s fractured ruling elite
This crisis reveals the vicious factional warfare tearing apart Algeria’s ruling elite. The flight of “El-Djinn” constitutes an existential threat to Algeria’s power structure: while Abdelmadjid Tebboune remains the state’s nominal head, the real control lies with General Saïd Chengriha’s military rule – and El-Djinn’s knowledge of state secrets could prove catastrophic if exposed.
Social networks have exploded with speculation while official channels maintain a deafening silence. Some influencers based abroad have claimed that army chief Chengriha suffered a health emergency and was hospitalized, further fueling rumors of division in the high command.
This saga is merely the latest episode in the chronic instability plaguing Algeria’s political and security elite. The intelligence services – once a regulating force within the power structure – have become dysfunctional through endless purges and restructuring.
Since Tebboune’s rise to power in 2019, Algeria has burned through seven DDSE directors and five DGSI chiefs. Roughly 200 senior officers – including about thirty generals – are currently imprisoned in the regime’s desperate attempt to maintain control.
The intelligence apparatus, which once served as both a faction and a regulator balancing power between the army and society, has lost its stabilizing function since being dismantled in 2015. This has left the military institution in perpetual turmoil, with internal power struggles compounded by growing discontent among officers who view the situation as untenable.
As the manhunt continues with no success after four days, this embarrassing security breach has stripped away the regime’s facade of stability, laying bare the brutal reality behind Tebboune’s hollow promises of a “New Algeria” – a state crumbling under the weight of its own corruption and paranoia.
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