AND foils major drug trafficking attempts

AMMAN — The Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) on Sunday announced the thwarting of 600,000 illicit pills in two attempted smuggling operations in the Kingdom. 

In one of the cases, according to Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi, the law-enforcement agency received a tip that two people intended to allegedly smuggle 400,000 illegal pills to a neighbouring country. 

“The two suspects were placed under surveillance and were arrested with the illegal narcotics,” the police official told The Jordan Times. 

In the second case, Sartawi added, AND received information that two suspects were reportedly planning to smuggle a large number of illegal pills to a neighbouring country using a truck. 

“A special team followed up on the tip and managed to collect information regarding the route of the smugglers,” according to Sartawi. 

The two suspects were intercepted by law enforcement agency officers “while on their way to the borders,” according to Sartawi. Upon searching the truck, Sartawi maintained, officers found “200,000 illegal pills hidden in a secret compartment”. 

The law-enforcement agency also arrested eight alleged drug dealers in three illicit drug bust operations in various locations in the Kingdom over the past few days, according to. AND officers allegedly seized a variety of illegal narcotics, including 12,000 Captagon drug pills, according to the police official.    

All suspects were referred to the State Security Court prosecutor for further questioning and indictment, according to a statement by the Public Security Directorate (PSD).   

AND officials stated that the seized quantities of drugs in 2023 in cooperation with the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF), customs, and other security agencies included 6,200 kilogrammes of hashish, 6.5 kilogrammes of heroin, around 19 million Captagon pills, 141.5 kilogrammes of cocaine, 15 kilogrammes of Joker powder, and about 70.5 kilograms of crystal meth.