Algerian police are systematically raiding merchants selling clothing bearing a “Made in Israel” label on the items.

According to a report published Wednesday in Algeria’s El-Khabar daily newspaper, the sting was carried out the day after New Year’s Day at a shopping center in the Al-Wadi district of the nation’s capital.

Police allegedly were tipped off by an informant who told them which vendors were selling women’s clothing bearing labels that said “Made in Israel.”

The Attorney General instructed the officers to confiscate the clothing and interrogate the vendors, who denied knowledge of the origins of the products, according to the report.

“We cannot rule out the possibility that an international ring smuggled the Israeli clothes into the country and that its operatives are being assisted by Algerian vendors based in several districts,” said a source quoted by El-Khabar.

The vendors allegedly told police the salesman who had sold them the clothing was a resident of Algiers. He was later arrested, the newspaper reported.

The daughter of former Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi, who until now has been living in Algeria, is allegedly seeking political asylum in Israel, according to a report on the Intelligence Online website.

Algeria was one of the last North African countries to express support for the National Transitional Council (NTC) that emerged from the rebels who toppled Qaddafi’s 42-year regime.