Amman (AFP) – The Jordanian army announced in a statement on Saturday that border guard forces killed five drug smugglers and arrested 15 others after armed clashes that continued since dawn on the northern border with Syria.
Published on: 01/06/2024 – 18:31 Last updated: 01/06/2024 – 18:29
3 minutes
The statement quoted an official military source in the General Command of the Armed Forces as saying, “Armed clashes between Jordanian border guard forces and large armed groups of smugglers since dawn hours today, Saturday, on the northern border of Jordan (with Syria) resulted in the killing of five people, the arrest of 15, and the injury of another.” “.
He explained that “clashes took place while they were trying to cross the border with Jordan to bring in drugs,” noting that “627,000 Captagon pills, 3,439 palms of hashish, and a Kalashnikov-type firearm were seized.”
According to the source, “the past few days have witnessed an increase in the number of these operations and their transformation from infiltration and smuggling attempts into armed clashes, with the aim of crossing the border and forcefully by targeting border guard forces.”
He stressed that “the Jordanian Armed Forces will continue to deal with all force and resolve with any threat on the border fronts, and any efforts intended to undermine and destabilize the security of the homeland and intimidate its citizens.”
The Jordanian army published on its website pictures of the bodies of the dead and the people who were arrested, who appeared to be blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs.
On the 18th of last month, the Jordanian army arrested nine smugglers in possession of drugs and various weapons after clashes on the border with Syria that resulted in injuries among Jordanian border guards.
Three similar clashes also took place last month, one of which resulted in the killing of a Jordanian border guard, the wounding of another, and the killing of a number of smugglers, while the other two resulted in the killing of four smugglers and the wounding of others.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on December 19 that five Syrians were killed in air strikes launched by the Jordanian army near the Jordanian-Syrian border on sites from which drug smuggling operations towards the Kingdom were launched.
The Jordanian army is combating infiltration and smuggling of weapons and drugs, especially Captagon pills, overland from Syria, which since 2011 has witnessed a bloody conflict that has killed more than half a million people, caused massive destruction and led to the displacement and displacement of millions of people inside and outside the country.
Jordan, which hosts about 1.6 million Syrian refugees, says that these smuggling operations have become “organized” and sometimes use drones and are protected by armed groups, which prompted Jordan to use the air force more than once to strike them and shoot down their drones.
The manufacture of Captagon is not new in the region, and Syria has been the most prominent source of this substance since before the outbreak of war in 2011. However, the conflict has made its manufacture more popular, used and exported.
© 2024 AFP
#Jordanian #army #kills #drug #smugglers #arrests #Syria
2024-01-06 17:31:04
