Jordan’s King Abdullah II vowed Monday to strike local and regional drug gangs that threaten the kingdom’s “national and regional security with an iron fist,” according to a statement issued by the royal court.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II vowed Monday to strike local and regional drug gangs that threaten the kingdom’s “national and regional security with an iron fist,” according to a statement issued by the royal court.
During his visit to the Anti-Narcotics Department of the Public Security Directorate, King Abdullah affirmed, “To provide full support to the Jordanian Armed Forces, the Arab Army, and the Anti-Narcotics Department, so that they can confront local and regional drug gangs, and strike with an iron fist at anyone who threatens our national and regional security.”
He stressed that “our armed forces and security services have always demonstrated high efficiency and ability in defending Jordan’s security, and they continue to confront local and regional drug gangs.”
King Abdullah directed “the formulation of a comprehensive national preventive strategy involving all relevant authorities, aimed at spreading a societal culture and awareness of drugs that contribute to the involvement of society in combating them and avoiding their devastating effects on society and the individual.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain, reported on the eighth of this month that “Marai al-Ramthan and his family, consisting of his wife and six children, were killed as a result of Jordanian warplanes targeting a building containing their house in the village of al-Sha’ab in the eastern countryside of As-Suwayda” at the border with Jordan.
Al-Ramathan is considered, according to the observatory, “one of the most prominent drug dealers, including Captagon, in the region and the one responsible for smuggling it to Jordan.”
There was no Jordanian comment on the raid.
The Jordanian army has been active for years in thwarting the smuggling of weapons and drugs coming from the Syrian territories, especially after it turned into a platform for smuggling drugs, especially Captagon, which is manufactured in Syria, to the Gulf countries.
It is not the first time that the Jordanian army has carried out raids inside Syrian territory to thwart smuggling operations, some of which date back to 2014.
Jordan says that drug smuggling across the Jordanian-Syrian border, which extends at a distance of about 375 km, is an “organized operation” that uses drones and is protected by armed groups.
On February 17, 2022, the army announced that the Jordanian authorities had thwarted, within about 45 days, at the beginning of the same year, the entry of more than 16 million Captagon pills, equivalent to the quantity seized throughout 2021.
Syria has been the most prominent source of Captagon since before the war broke out in 2011. However, the conflict made its manufacture more popular, used and exported.
The Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia, are the main destination for Captagon pills, which are easy-to-manufacture drugs and classified by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as “a type of stimulating amphetamine,” which is usually a mixture of amphetamines, caffeine, and other substances.
The Jordanian position on Monday comes on the heels of an accelerating Arab openness towards Damascus after 12 years of devastating conflict.
