JORDANIAN MILITARY SAYS IT DOWNS SECOND DRONE FROM SYRIA THIS WEEK CARRYING WEAPONS

Fri 16 June 2023:

The Jordanian Army shot down a drone carrying weapons from Syria on Friday, the military said, the second time this week Jordan has downed an unmanned aircraft flying into its territory from neighbouring Syria, Reuters reports.

A statement reported by state news agency, Petra, said the drone was shot down in Jordanian territory and was found to be carrying weapons, without giving further details.

JORDAN SHOOTS DOWN ARMS-LADEN DRONE FROM SYRIA

The Army said on Tuesday it had downed a drone carrying drugs from Syria. Jordan has blamed pro-Iranian militias, who it says are protected by units within the Syrian army, for smuggling drugs across its borders towards Gulf markets.

Syria is by far the world’s largest producer of Captagon, an addictive amphetamine-type stimulant pill that is being smuggled to countries across the region.

Damascus says it is doing its best to curb smuggling and continues to bust smuggler rings in the south. It denies complicity by Iranian-backed militias linked to its Army and security forces.

Last month, Amman said Syria has agreed to tackle drug trafficking across its borders with Jordan and Iraq following a meeting of foreign ministers

Days after Jordan warned it is ready to “do what it takes to counter the threat” of drug smuggling, an air raid on Syrian soil killed reputed Syrian drug kingpin Marai al-Ramthan. Jordan is widely believed to have been behind the attack, although it did not officially confirm it.

SYRIA DRUG TRAFFICKING IS BECOMING MORE ‘ORGANISED’, JORDAN MILITARY SAYS

It is worth noting that the Jordanian army intercepted more than 17 million Captagon pills coming from Syria in the first half of 2022, while it intercepted 15.5 million Captagon pills during the whole of 2021 and 1.4 million pills in 2020.

Meanwhile, since late April alone, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Iraq have announced multiple seizures consisting of tens of millions of Syrian-made Captagon pills, which are estimated to have a street value of over $1bn.

They have not, however, publicly blamed the al-Assad government following the seizures as normalisation efforts have gathered pace.

Al-Assad, naturally, denies any organised efforts by his government to profit from the drug, but observers say he has turned Syria into a narco-state, making billions of dollars every year from a business that is believed to be worth several times that of the entirety of operations run by the infamous cartels in Mexico.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

______________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent