Middle East
A crystal meth-laden drone was shot down by the Jordanian military as it was crossing into Jordanian territory from Syria on August 13, 2023. Photo: ArmedForcesJo/Twitter
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A drone laden with crystal meth that was flying into Jordan from neighboring Syria was shot down by the Jordanian military on Sunday, state news agency Petra reported.
The drone was “taken under control and shot down,” the report said, citing a military official.
Jordan has become a transit point of drugs, particularly captagon, being smuggled out of Syria which has turned into a Middle Eastern hub for narcotics. The Jordanian military has previously downed drones carrying narcotics, as well as weapons, but crystal meth has been rarely identified.
There was no comment by Syrian authorities regarding the incident.
In early May, an airstrike killed a prominent drug dealer and his family in southern Syria, with a war monitor stating that the strike had been carried out by Jordan. Amman has not confirmed whether it was behind the strike.
Numerous meetings have taken place between Jordanian and Syrian officials in an attempt to curb the illicit drug trade, but Amman remains dissatisfied with the outcome of these talks. The highest-level meeting took place in July between Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
A statement from the Jordanian foreign ministry said that Safadi and Assad agreed to form a joint committee to combat drug smuggling, and hold its first meeting in Amman as soon as possible.
Safadi emphasized danger represented by drug smuggling through the Syrian borders into Jordan and the necessity of cooperation to combat it.
The meeting followed Assad’s return to the Arab League in May following over a decade of isolation. Jordan, as well as other members of the league, have used the Syrian president’s return to the Arab fold as an opportunity to increase security cooperation with Syria to deal with the cross-border drug smuggling issue.
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