Jordan: deadly clash with drug traffickers on the Syrian border

Bags containing confiscated narcotics displayed at the headquarters of the police anti-narcotics unit in Amman, January 7, 2019. The Jordanian authorities have been denouncing for several months now a spectacular increase in drug trafficking at the Syrian border.

AFP - KHALIL MAZRAAWI

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In Jordan, an officer was killed on Sunday January 16 at the Syrian border by a group of traffickers who were trying to smuggle drugs into the country.

Drug trafficking is regular between the two countries which share 375 km of border, but their increase worries the authorities on the spot. 

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With our correspondent in Amman,  

It was around 4 a.m. in the northeast of the country that the smugglers opened fire on the border guards.

They fled a few minutes later, repelled by the Jordanian army, leaving behind a large quantity of narcotics. 

This confrontation confirms the fears of Jordanian officials, who have been denouncing for several months already a spectacular increase in drug trafficking at the Syrian border.

In particular,

, an amphetamine derivative that is fast becoming one of the most abused drugs in the Middle East. 

 361 smuggling attempts at the border in 2021

In 2021, the Jordanian army foiled 361 smuggling attempts at its border.

A number that has almost tripled in the space of a year.

The armed forces are struggling to maintain security, as traffickers use increasingly sophisticated methods to move cargo, such as the use of a drone last October,

. 

In its press release, the Jordanian army affirms that it will respond firmly to any new attempt at trafficking and offers its condolences to the family of the deceased officer.

Several hundred people gathered in his homage on Sunday in his hometown of Deir Al-Sa'ana in northern Jordan. 

Three other members of the army were injured in the clash and rushed to hospital. 

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• Jordan

• Drug

• Syria