Jordan’s army announced that 160 groups of traffickers are operating in southern Syrian, near the border with Jordan. It also confirmed that security channels for communication are up and running with the Syrian regime regarding the matter.
Drug trafficking from Syria into Jordan is becoming “organized” with smugglers stepping up operations and using sophisticated equipment including drones, Jordan’s army said Thursday, warning of a shoot-to-kill policy.
Since the beginning of this year, Jordan’s army has killed 30 smugglers and foiled attempts to smuggle into the kingdom from Syria 16 million Captagon pills -- more than they seized in the whole of 2021 -- the military said.
Speaking to reporters, senior officer, Colonel Mustafa Al-Hiyari, said Jordan is “fighting an undeclared war” and that drug smuggling from Syria has forced stricter rules of engagement.
Hiyari noted that communications with the Syrian side have not been fruitful for a long time, which prompted Jordan to change its engagement policy.
“We got a very positive response from the Syrian government... but on the ground that does not last for long,” he added.
“We have confirmed information that some Syrian checkpoints cooperated with some smugglers in some cases... some checkpoints affiliated with the Syrian army helped smugglers and provided protection,” he revealed.
“But we cannot be certain that this was done on instructions from the Syrian army -- perhaps these are cases of corruption in these checkpoints,” Hiyari said.
On January 27 the army said it killed 27 traffickers in a clash as they tried to enter the kingdom from Syria.
It was the deadliest confrontation yet in the army’s fight against smugglers. Three other alleged traffickers have been killed in separate operations this year.
Hiyari told reporters that large amounts of illegal drugs have been seized since the beginning of the year.
This included 17,348 packs of hashish and more than 16 million Captagon pills -- compared to 15.5 million pills for all of 2021 and 1.4 million pills in 2020.
“Jordan is waging an undeclared war along the border against drug traffickers and those who back them,” Hiyari said.
