Jordan shoots down drone carrying drugs from Syria

Unmanned aircraft crossing kingdom's eastern border was loaded with crystal meth, army says

A drone loaded with narcotic substances was shot down on the front of the Eastern Military Region, Jordan. JAF

Jordan shot down a drone carrying drugs over its eastern borders early on Monday in the fourth incident of its kind in the past month.

The unmanned aircraft was loaded with crystal meth, a synthetic drug that can be manufactured in clandestine laboratories, the Jordanian army said.

“The Border Guard forces, in co-ordination with the narcotics control department and the military security services, monitored an attempt by an unmanned drone to illegally cross the border from Syrian territory to Jordanian territory, and it was shot down inside Jordanian territory,” the military said.

Jordan often announces its operations against the smuggling of arms and drugs from Syria, especially Captagon, a type of amphetamine plaguing the Middle East.

Drug smuggling has become more organised and armed groups are now using drones, Jordan said.

Southern Syria became a main transit and manufacturing point for drugs after the area was recaptured by the Syrian army and pro-Iranian militias in 2018.