The Jordanian army announced in a statement issued today, Thursday, that it had thwarted a number of attempts to smuggle large quantities of narcotics, and killed 27 smugglers while trying to cross the border from Syria to the kingdom with the support of armed groups.
The statement quoted an official military source as saying that the army, “in coordination with the security services,” carried out “simultaneous qualitative operations on several fronts (on the border) within the area of responsibility” at dawn on Thursday.
He added that these operations allowed “to thwart attempts to infiltrate and smuggle large quantities of narcotics, coming from Syrian territory.”
The army added, “The rules of engagement (…) were applied with smugglers who were supported by other armed groups, which led to the killing of 27 people, the injury of a number of smugglers, and their escape into the Syrian depth.”
The statement indicated that “a preliminary search was conducted in the area, and large quantities of narcotic substances were found.”
sneak attempts
The source stressed that the armed forces “will strike with an iron fist and deal with all force and firmness with any infiltration or smuggling attempts, and to prevent anyone who is tempted to tamper with national security.”
During the past years, Jordan witnessed hundreds of infiltration and smuggling attempts, especially from Syria (north) and Iraq (east); As a result of the deteriorating security situation in the two countries.
Amman confirms that 85% of the seized drugs are intended for smuggling out of Jordan.
On Monday, the army announced that it had thwarted an attempt to smuggle large quantities of drugs from Syria to Jordan.
On January 17, the army announced the killing of an officer and the wounding of 3 border guards soldiers in a clash with drug smugglers on the border with Syria, and days later one of the injured died of his wounds.
Jordan, which has hosted about 1.6 million Syrian refugees since the outbreak of the crisis in Syria in March 2011, has tightened, over the past few years, procedures at its border with Syria, which extends more than 300 km, and arrested and imprisoned dozens of fighters, for trying to infiltrate into Syrian territory to fight. over there.