AMMAN: The Jordanian military on Sunday downed a drone carrying crystal meth that was flying into Jordanian territory from neighbouring Syria.
War-torn Syria has become a hub for a multi-billion-dollar drugs trade, with Jordan a main transit route to the oil-rich Gulf states for a Syrian-made amphetamine known as captagon.
Citing a source within the Jordanian armed forces, a local state agency said in a statement the drone was “taken control of and downed”.
The Jordanian military has previously downed drones from Syria carrying narcotics or weapons but has rarely identified seized drugs as crystal meth.
Military and security officials from Jordan and Syria have met to discuss ways to curb the growing smuggling problem. Despite pledges by Damascus, Jordan says it has not seen any real attempt to clamp down on the illicit trade.
In an interview last week, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denied Syria’s role in the drug trade, saying that ending narcotics smuggling was a common interest that Syria shares with Arab countries.
In July this year, a new forum to combat drug smuggling from Syria through Jordan to the Gulf states held its first meeting in Amman.
The forum was agreed during talks between Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus as regional concern mounts over an influx of the banned stimulant captagon from Syria.
The Jordanian foreign ministry said the talks “went over the issue of the parties that organise, run and carry out smuggling operations across borders to Jordan, as well as necessary measures to… confront this escalating danger to the entire region.”
Jordanian security forces have tightened border controls in recent years and occasionally announce thwarted drugs and weapons smuggling attempts from Syria.
There has been increasing regional engagement with Assad’s government since its readmission to the Arab League in May, ending more than a decade of isolation since civil war erupted in Syria in 2011.
