Army foils smuggling attempt from Syria, kills three

AMMAN — Border Guards on Wednesday night thwarted an attempt by seven individuals to enter the Kingdom from Syria, according to a Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army source. 

The troops applied the rules of engagement, killing three of the suspects, while the rest fled back into the Syrian territory, according to the official. 

The troops seized six bags containing 850 palm-sized sheets of hashish and referred them to the concerned authorities, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The army foiled 33 smuggling attempts in 2015, 47 in 2016 and 8 since the start of this year,  Border Guards Commander Brig. Gen. Barakat Aqeel said on Wednesday.

He noted that the forces seized in 2015 alone a total of 878,209 palm-sized sheets of hashish, 84.672 million narcotic pills, 573 Captagon pills and 1,467 “pieces of weapons”.

He told reporters touring the border zone that 85 infiltrations took place in 2015, involving 132 people, while in 2016, the units responded to 79 infiltrations involving 151 people. So far in 2017, the number stands at 24, in which 65 people have been involved.

As for the number of infiltration attempts, meaning those who tried to reach the Jordanian side but failed, there were 34 cases in 2015, involving 85 people, 22 in 2016 with 45 people and 4 in 2017 with 9 people attempting to cross the border, the army official highlighted.