JORDANIAN TROOPS KILL 27 DRUG SMUGGLERS FROM SYRIA

An illegal drug industry has flourished in Syria after 10 years of civil war [File Photo]

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Fri 28 January 2022:

Jordanian troops killed 27 suspected drug smugglers attempting to enter the country from neighboring Syria, according to reports, adding that some others carrying drugs fled back into Syria.

According to a report posted on the Jordanian army’s website on Thursday, the army foiled several suspected drug smuggling attempts from Syria, and large quantities of narcotics were seized in separate interventions in which several people were injured.

The army also claimed to have discovered large amounts of drugs hidden in Syrian trucks passing through Jordan’s main border crossing.

It added it was “continuing to apply the newly established rules of engagement and will strike with an iron fist and deal with force and firmness with any infiltration or smuggling attempts to protect the borders”.

Jordan’s military said earlier this month that an army officer was killed in a shootout with smugglers along the country’s long porous border with Syria.

المنطقة العسكرية الشرقية تحبط عدة محاولات تسلل وتهريب وتقتل 27 مهرباًhttps://t.co/vxiaKe4Sy0 #الأردن #القوات_المسلحة_الأردنية #الجيش_العربي pic.twitter.com/TandKFNJv2

— Jordan Armed Forces (@ArmedForcesJO) January 27, 2022

Jordan is home to over 650,000 Syrian refugees who fled the country’s civil war, which has raged for more than ten years.

Syrian and Jordanian officials discussed border security in September, following the capture of rebel-held areas along the Jordanian border by Syrian government forces.

After the two countries reopened a key border crossing, Jordan’s King Abdullah II spoke with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the first time in a decade.

المنطقة العسكرية الشرقية تحبط محاولة تسلل وتهريب
للمزيد : https://t.co/adx8mv8twa #القوات_المسلحة_الأردنية #الجيش_العربي #الأردن pic.twitter.com/Ca1xil5l1O

— Jordan Armed Forces (@ArmedForcesJO) January 17, 2022

After ten years of civil war, Syria’s illegal drug trade has flourished. It has recently emerged as a hotspot for the production and sale of captagon, an illegal amphetamine.

Syria and Lebanon have become drug transit points to the Middle East, particularly the Gulf.

Jordanian officials say the surge in smuggling is being driven by Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group and other armed groups that control much of southern Syria. Hezbollah denies the charges.

According to a 2014 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Middle East amphetamine market is expanding, with busts primarily in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria accounting for more than 55 percent of amphetamines seized globally.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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