The Jordanian army accused undisciplined forces in the Syrian regime’s army and security services of supporting drug traffickers and carrying out smuggling operations, noting that “Jordan’s border with Syria is now one of the most dangerous borders in the kingdom.”
“Undisciplined forces from the Syrian regime’s army are cooperating with drug traffickers and their gangs, which have become organized, supported by them and their security services, as well as Hezbollah and Iran militias deployed in southern Syria, and are smuggling on our borders,” said Brig. Gen. Ahmed Hashem Khleifat, director of the Border Security Directorate of the Jordanian Armed Forces.
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“From the beginning of the year to the beginning of this month, the quantities of drugs seized by border guards on the northern front increased to more than 19 million narcotic captagon pills, about half a million hashish palms, and 5 bags of drug pills, while the quantities seized across the same border destination last year amounted to about 14 million captagon pills and 15,000 hashish palms,” he said.
No Real Partner in Border Protection
“Before the Syrian army took control of the border in 2018, the number of infiltrators in drug trafficking cases was between 5 and 10, but operations began to increase, as did the number of infiltrators,” the Jordanian officer said, regarding the security coordination on the border with the Syrian regime to arrest drug smugglers.
During the armed confrontation in which a Jordanian army officer was killed on January 16th, 70 infiltrators were heavily armed with individual and sophisticated weapons, Khleifat said, adding that on January 27th, 183 infiltrators were spotted.
“We communicated more than once with our Syrian counterparts, held meetings in the Jaber area, and our demands were always that their forces perform their duty,” he said.
“So far, we have not seen that we have a real partner in border protection, but at the same time there has been a marked improvement in the level of coordination.”
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
