According to the spokesman of the National Guard, quoted by the Tunis Afrique Presse agency
More than 148 terrorist cells have been dismantled by security units, spokesman for the General Directorate of the National Guard, Houssem Eddine Jebabli, said on Saturday.
During a press briefing at the Aouina barracks, held at the end of the first session of the work of the Periodic Meeting of District Heads and Regional Directors of Security and the National Guard, Jebabli said that the investigation into the terrorist attack that targeted a security patrol on January 4 in the town of Bir Soltane in the governorate of Kébili (south-west), revealed that the cell was planning an attack against the Minister of Interior, Taoufik Charfeddine, during his visit to the south of the country.
The National Guard spokesperson also revealed details of other security operations that thwarted terrorist plans, including the arrest of a young woman who had arrived from abroad and planned to carry out a terrorist attack in the Sahel region. The woman in question was returning from a conflict zone abroad, and would have been recruited remotely and trained in the manufacture of explosives.
According to Jebabli, quoted by the official Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) agency, foreign elements were also arrested, while cells operating in cybernetic space were dismantled.
For his part, the Director-General of Operations at the Ministry of the Interior, Fraj Ben Brahim indicated that 3 thousand tons of food products (flour, sugar, pasta, etc.) were seized during the period from March 10 to 25.
“During the last six months, 196,000 people have been arrested and 129,000 legal cases have been brought, 80% of them for violence,” said Ben Brahim, who also affirms the arrest by security units of 5,034 people, including a large number of foreigners, as part of the fight against irregular migration.
Concerning the fight against narcotics, the senior security official declared that several major dealers were arrested, and reported the arrest of 6,240 people as well as the seizure of 306,000 ecstasy tablets, 167 kg of cannabis and more than 13 kg of cocaine and heroin.
Since May 2011, Tunisia has been the target of terrorist acts, which have led to the death of dozens of members of the security and military forces and foreign tourists.
Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed decided on February 18 to extend the state of emergency in the country until December 31, 2022.
The state of emergency gives the Tunisian Ministry of the Interior exceptional prerogatives, particularly with regard to the prohibition of meetings, the imposition of a curfew, searches day and night, control of the media, publications, film screenings, and plays.
These prerogatives are exercised without prior judicial authorization, which has aroused increasingly recurrent strong criticism internationally and nationally.
