Jordanian military says it foiled drug-smuggling run from Syria

Two soldiers were killed on border with Syria last week

A haul of Captagon pills that was seized before being smuggled into Saudi Arabia in November 2021. AFP

The Jordanian military on Tuesday said that it foiled a drug smuggling attempt into the country from Syria, a week after two soldiers were killed on the border.

A military source told official media that the smugglers "fled deep into Syria” after they were intercepted overnight on Monday and that 353,000 Captagon pills were seized.

He said the army would “strike with an iron fist and deal firmly with any infiltration or smuggling attempt from Syria".

The military announced last week that two Jordanian soldiers were killed in a smuggling zone on the border with Syria.

It said one of one of the two was killed by smugglers operating from Syria. It did not give details of the other soldier's death.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Wednesday that the kingdom had become a target of drug rings based in Syria.

The killing of the two soldiers raised concern about the safety of military personnel on the frontier.

Arab security officials say Captagon smuggling from Syrian regime areas to Jordan and onwards accelerated in the past two years. They estimate the trade to be worth up to $4 billion a year.