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Police officer injured in marijuana farm raid dies

By Rana Husseini - Mar 29,2014 - Last updated at Mar 29,2014

AMMAN — A police officer, who was shot and injured during a raid on a marijuana farm in Balqa Governorate last week, died in hospital over the weekend, official sources said Saturday.

Corporal Hussam Abbadi, 23, died at dawn on Friday as a result of bullet wounds he sustained in his thigh during the March 25 raid, a senior Public Security Department (PSD) official said.

“He was shot in a vital vein at close range from an automatic rifle and lost a lot of blood, and his chances of survival were slim,” the PSD source told The Jordan Times.

The official added that the officer and the team, which comprised Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agents, engaged in a shoot-out with three men while raiding their farm in Balqa, some 35km northwest of Amman.

“The suspects used automatic weapons in an attempt to resist arrest, resulting in the injury of Abbadi and a second officer who remains hospitalised in stable condition,” the official said.

The Special Forces and AND team managed to contain the situation and arrest the suspects, he added.

Upon searching the premises, they found “two automatic weapons, a gun and a stash of marijuana”, PSD Spokesperson Major Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times last week.

Abbadi had been in police service for the past six years, a second source said, noting that “he was preparing for his wedding that was due in two weeks.”

Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Interior Minister Hussein Majali paid condolences to the Abbadi family on Saturday, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The PSD official said five police and AND officers were killed in the line of duty over the past four years in the war against illegal drugs in Jordan.

Dozens of police officers have also been injured by drug dealers or individuals who own illegal drug farms, the official added.

“This is a real unfortunate incident, but it will never deter us from fighting illegal drug activities in Jordan… It is our duty to try to keep Jordan a drug-free country,” he said.

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