By Al-Fassel | 2023-09-27

Jordanian security forces on Tuesday (September 26) shot down two drones loaded with illegal drugs as they attempted to cross the border from neighboring Syria, Jordanian media reported.

"Border Guard forces, in coordination with the Anti-Narcotics Administration and military security services, monitored two drones trying to breach the border from Syria and shot them," a military official told Jordanian news agency Petra.

The drones were found to be carrying a quantity of crystal methamphetamine ("crystal meth"), according to the official from the General Command of the Jordan Armed Forces - Arab Army.

Crystal meth is a highly addictive and dangerous drug that attacks the central nervous system and can cause severe physical and psychological problems.

Troops from the eastern military zone seized the shipment and the drones, which have been referred to the relevant agencies for further action.

Crystal meth is widely consumed in southern Iraq, where much of it enters the country from neighboring Iran. Iraq sits at the center of a regional drug-smuggling triangle, with illicit narcotics also flowing in from Lebanon and Syria.

Jordan shares borders with both Syria and Iraq.

The kingdom has reinforced its frontiers in a bid to cut off drug smuggling routes through its territory from southern Syria, where Iranian proxy Hizbullah has established factories producing the stimulant drug Captagon.

Hizbullah, which has a long history of cultivating cannabis -- a crop used to produce hashish -- in Lebanon, has in recent years shifted some of these operations to Syria.

The southern Syrian provinces of Sweida and Daraa have become a hub for Hizbullah's regional drug smuggling operations, with the border area becoming a transit corridor for drug trafficking and smuggling into Jordan.

Jordanian border security

Jordanian forces have regularly intercepted drug shipments attempted by land or air across the border with Syria, and have pledged to continue to deal with threats on the kingdom's borders "with all force and firmness."

Jordanian forces from the eastern military zone on June 13 shot down a drone carrying illegal drugs as it attempted to cross into the kingdom from Syria, the Jordan Armed Forces said.

The drone was found to be carrying 500 grams of crystal meth.

Jordan's judiciary on December 15 sentenced two men to long prison terms for attempting to smuggle nearly two million Captagon pills into the country from Syria, a judicial source said.

The two men had attempted to smuggle more than 1.9 million Captagon pills from Syria to Jordan in 2021, hidden in wood-burning stoves, the source said.