The Digitization Office reveals what is hidden and defendants face a heavy felony:
Fake biometric documents and birth certificates for 20 million
Phone calls and conversations reveal the clues to the crime...
9 Defendants appear before the Casablanca Criminal Court on October 27
Security and judicial investigations, in the largest file of a “parallel administration” for forging documents and administrative documents, revealed an elaborate plan carried out by members of international gangs with the complicity of a number of municipal employees, through complete falsification of basic files to extract biometric identification cards and fake birth certificates for illegal immigrants of African nationalities, in exchange for sums of money ranging between 15 and 20 million centimes per document.
This heavy file is being considered by the Criminal Court of First Instance of Casablanca in the Algiers Judicial Council, on October 27th, where the nine defendants, including employees of the Municipality of Tindouf, will appear for the felony of forgery in official documents by a public employee while on the job, the misdemeanor of participating in a group and in an agreement for the purpose of fraudulently inserting and removing data in the automated data processing system, and the misdemeanor of abusing the position in a way that violates the laws and regulations against the defendants “K.A.” and “A. Abdel Karim.” And “H. Muhammad” and “Dr. Bin Omar.”
While the defendants, “M. Abdullah” and “F. Tawfiq,” will be prosecuted for two misdemeanors of handing over residence certificates and permits by an employee to a person who knows that he is in possession of them, and failure to report crimes of corruption and abuse of office in a manner that violates laws and regulations, while the defendants, “R. Munir” and “T. Khanatha,” face the misdemeanor of unlawfully obtaining residence documents, certificates, and permits, the misdemeanor of using the document knowing that it is forged, and the misdemeanor of forming an association of evil people for the purpose of preparing and committing A misdemeanor and a misdemeanor of facilitating the illegal movement and residence of a foreigner in the national territory.
As for the accused, “A. Abdullah,” he may appear before the Criminal Court for the misdemeanor of unlawfully obtaining residence documents, certificates, and permits, the misdemeanor of using the document knowing that it is forged, and the misdemeanor of forming an association of evil people for the purpose of preparing to commit a misdemeanor, acts stipulated and punished by Articles 394 bis 1, 394 bis 5, 176, and 177 of the Penal Code, as well as Articles 33 and 48 of the Law for Preventing and Combating Corruption. Articles 22, 23, 3, 32, and 34 of the Law on Combating Counterfeiting and the Use of Counterfeiters, as well as Article 46 of the Law on Conditions for Foreigners’ Entry, Residence, and Movement in Algeria.h
15 Two million in exchange for an Algerian identity…a financial interest revealed:
The facts of the case date back to April 21, 2025, at around ten in the morning, when two people were arrested by judicial police officers at the level of the Biometric Documents Authority in the Tindouf District. They are the suspect, “R. Mounir,” who was in the process of filing an application file to obtain a biometric national identification card for the second suspect who was with him. His features appear to be of African nationality, and therefore they were transferred to the Authority’s headquarters for investigation, while the file that the suspect was in possession of was seized. It contains “R. Munir,” while it was registered under the name “M. Ali.”
When members of the judicial police monitored the file that was about to be filed, it was found that it consisted of a birth certificate, a photograph, a blood group card, an honorary declaration not to have an identification card, a summary of birth certificate No. 12 No. 00737, in addition to a residence certificate and a nationality certificate, all registered in the name of “M. Ali,” born on November 30, 2000 in the state of Tindouf.
Upon hearing the accused “M. Ali” by judicial police officers, it was found that he was a foreign national of African nationality, born on June 2, 2000 in Timbuktu, the state of Mali. The son of Issa and Nasari Maryam entered the national territory illegally, where he came to the city of Tindouf in the year 2025, while he stated that he actually provided an amount of 15 million centimes to the suspect “R. Mounir” in exchange for granting him the file and depositing it to obtain the biometric identification card.
The accused confirmed that the suspect called “T.K” was the one who offered him last year to obtain Algerian citizenship and Algerian identity documents in exchange for an amount of 20 million centimes, where he agreed with her on an amount of 18 million centimes that he would hand it over to her later and contact her via phone numbers she gave him, so that he would meet her with the suspect “R. Mounir”, to inform him that the latter would undertake to bring the documents and procedures for creating the file and extracting the blood group card and photographs, and negotiated with him on the He was handed over 15 million centimes for the file and its deposit.
The accused added that he phoned the suspect “R. Mounir” and they went together to the headquarters of the Tindouf district at the level of the Biometric Documents Authority to hand him the agreed upon sum of money, where he put it in his pocket and took out a file containing documents accompanied by his own photographs, confirming that in the beginning his agreement was with the suspect “T.K” until April 18, 2024, when she sent him the phone number of the accused “B. Mounir” and asked him to agree. With him, adding that “T.K” was the one who extracted the documents that made up the file, and after subjecting him to a physical search, he was found in possession of a sum of money estimated at 8,500 DZD, to be placed in a sealed bag and presented as proof before the court’s police secretariat.
Suspicious files and birth certificates not found in paper records
When the suspect “R. Mounir” was searched by judicial police officers, a sum of money in the national currency estimated at 148,000 dinars was found in his possession, which he was hiding in his pocket, in addition to a red plastic bag that he was carrying in his hand. After accompanying him, a birth certificate belonging to the so-called “B. Maata Allah” and another birth certificate to the so-called “M. Embarek” were seized, in addition to two other files, each file containing a birth certificate, an honorary declaration not to have an identification card, and a summary of the birth certificate No. 12, a residence certificate and a nationality certificate. The second file is registered in the name of the so-called “M. Al-Sheikh,” born in 1992 in Tindouf. By browsing the three files, it became clear, according to the recorded data, that these people are siblings with the same father’s and “mother’s” names.
When the Department of Public Planning and Civil Status in the Municipality of Tindouf was personally assigned by members of the judicial police to verify the authenticity of the registration of the three birth certificates seized in the aforementioned files, their written response was that they were all forged, as it turned out that the birth certificates were present in the electronic registry and not in the paper registry of civil status, as they were provided with a copy of the paper registry and a copy of the electronic copy along with the scanned image.
Judicial police officers, under another personal assignment to the mayor of Tindouf, Digitization Office, revealed that the change to the birth certificates under investigation was made by the user “h.mohamed”, who belongs to the so-called “H. Mohamed Aali”.
When the suspect, “R. Mounir,” was heard by members of the judicial police, he stated that he was actually carrying in his hand a file that he was about to deposit to request a biometric identification card at the level of the Tindouf district for the person who was with him, whose identity he did not know, and who did not know the identity written on the file that he was carrying. He confirmed that “K” was the one who handed him the exact file, and he agreed with her at her request to carry out the procedures for depositing the file. She also informed him that she would receive an amount of 17 million centimes in exchange for extracting it. For this person’s documents, he must request a larger amount than that as a result of his depositing the file at the department level.
The accused confirmed that he met with the suspected African national, “L. Abdullah,” and accompanied him to extract photographs and a blood group card in preparation for filing the file. He explained that the person named “K” was the one who handed him the other two files for the purpose of searching for other people of African nationalities and selling them those documents to obtain Algerian identities and biometric identification cards in exchange for sums of money. He added that he obtained birth certificates at the level of the municipality of “Zawia Kunta” in Adrar Province using the nationality certificates that were He is in his possession at the request of the woman named “T.K.” The purpose of this is to search for African nationals in the city of Adrar, sell them to them, and share the proceeds with them.
Regarding the relationship with the suspect, “T. Khalala,” the accused confirmed that he has known her since the year 2025 because she is his friend’s daughter and she was the one who contacted him by phone and offered him the process of selling the papers and files of African nationals, because she knows that he has precedent in court in such cases. She informed him that she has relations with municipal employees, one of whom works in the biometric department called “Dahham” who facilitates the procedures and extracting the documents. She is the one who advised him of the need to go to the Tindouf district to deposit the file, but she did not inform him. The names and identities of municipal employees.
A booklet with suspicious names reveals what is hidden
Judicial police officers searched the suspect, “T. Khalala,” and found in her bedroom a 96-page notebook containing the names of people and the year of his birth, as well as a forged birth certificate in the name of “T. Mahjouba,” to be placed in a sealed bag to be presented as proof. Judicial police officers also searched the suspect’s handbag and found in it an amount of money estimated at 15,000 DZD.
Then the judicial police officers continued the investigation by browsing the nationality certificates that were among the seized files. It was found that they were issued by the Tindouf court and they were provided with a copy extracted from the database, and that the forged birth certificates of “M.Ali,” “M.Zein,” and “M.Sheikh” were used to extract nationalities, while there is no record at the level of the counter or the two applications regarding the identity of the person who deposits or withdraws the nationality certificates.
The same security authority continued the investigation under personal costs directed to the Biometric Documents Authority in the municipality and district of Tindouf, where they were told that an identity card had not been issued for each of “M.Ali,” “M.Zein,” “M.Sheikh,” and “T.Mahjouba.” Thus, the investigation in the case file reached the complicity of employees of the Biometric Documents Authority to charge them with participating in a group and in an agreement for the purpose of fraudulently entering and removing data in the automated data processing system, the crime of forgery in documents. An official offense by a public employee while performing his job, a misdemeanor of abusing his position in a manner that violates laws and regulations against a number of employees, a misdemeanor of handing over residence certificates and permits by an employee to a person who knows he has no right to them, a misdemeanor of not reporting corruption crimes, and a misdemeanor of abusing his position in a manner that violates laws and regulations against others.
While the rest of the defendants who formed an empire for forging documents were charged with heavy charges related to “unlawfully obtaining residence documents, certificates, and permits, the misdemeanor of using the document knowing that it is forged, the misdemeanor of forming an association of evildoers for the purpose of preparing to commit a misdemeanor, the misdemeanor of facilitating the movement and residence of a foreigner in the national territory in an illegal manner, and the misdemeanor of using the document knowing that it is forged and forming an association of evildoers for the purpose of preparing to commit a misdemeanor.”
