Army arrests Israeli infiltrator

AMMAN – Border Guards on Thursday arrested an Israeli who attempted to illegally cross the western borders into the Kingdom, a source from the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army said. 

No further details were disclosed on the rare incident.

Also on Thursday, frontline troops at the northeastern border foiled an attempt by four Syrians to smuggle a large amount of drugs from Syria.

They tracked the smugglers and applied the rules of engagement followed in such cases, which led to arresting the suspects and seizing 781,000 Captagon pills and 180 palm-sized sheets of hashish.

The military source stressed that the northern and northeastern borders are still a closed military zone and any movement near these borders will be determinately dealt with as a threat to national security. 

In recent remarks to the press, Border Guards Commander Brig. Gen. Saber Mahayrah said that troops on the border with Syria foiled 280 attempts to smuggle narcotics into the Kingdom in 2015, adding that 23 million narcotic pills, mostly Captagon, were seized. 

Jordan has recently declared the area a closed military zone after a terrorist attack in late June targeted a military post serving refugees near the border, killing seven troops and injuring 13 others.