Jordan Valley ‘almost clean’ of marijuana farming — police

AMMAN — The Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) director on Sunday said trafficking of illegal narcotics via the Kingdom will witness a decrease in the coming years because of the extensive campaign the department has been implementing lately.

Over the past few years, Brig. Gen. Sami Askar said the department managed to quash several vital smuggling channels on Jordanian borders and arrested dozens of key drug dealers.

“We also managed to rid the Jordan Valley of 95 per cent of the marijuana farms there,” the AND official said.

Askar was speaking during a press conference at the main headquarters of the Public Security Department (PSD) along with directors of the traffic, criminal and preventive investigation departments.

Askar said the PSD beefed up AND with 250 personnel, and as a result “several new branches of the department were established in areas that did not have AND teams before”.

Some of the newly established areas according to Askar include Tafileh and Ajloun governorates, Ruseifa, Durrah and Northern Irbid.

“We are depending on the latest technology and solid intelligence information to arrest dealers, smugglers and expose the latest methods and techniques of smuggling,” Askar said

The AND director pointed out that these efforts and the increase in human power resulted in the increase of numbers of reported cases in Jordan over the past year.

He said between May 31, 2013 and the end of May this year, the department dealt with 7,713 illegal narcotic cases, including 712 cases of drug trafficking.

The number of arrested individuals during that period was 10,792, including 1,296 who are non-Jordanians, according to Askar.

The amount of seized illegal narcotics during the same period was as follows: 664kg of hashish; 6,719kg of marijuana; 2,466,918 Captagon pills; 331kg of cocaine; 219kg of heroin, 24kg of opium and 43,107,011 pills of various illegal drug.

Askar said that most of the seized drugs were destined to neighbouring countries such as Saudi Arabia, Israel, Lebanon and Egypt.

“The majority of the illegal narcotics seized is not for local consumption and the majority was destined to neighbouring countries such as illegal drug pills, which are worth between JD7 to JD10 per pill in these countries,” Askar said.

Also speaking during the press conference was director of the Preventive Security Department Brg. Gen. Zuhdi Janbek, who said that 49,689 wanted suspects, including 47,796 Jordanians, were arrested between the period of May 31, 2013 and the end of May of this year.

The department also seized 9,581 vehicles, including 3,529 that were stolen, during the same period, he told reporters.

Meanwhile, Director of the Criminal Investigation Department Col. Hussein Abbadi said that the department dealt with 202 vice cases in the first five months of this year.

The cases included 144 Jordanian women, 40 non-Jordanians and 14 women working at nightclubs, Abbadi said.  

Director of the Traffic Department Brig. Gen. Daoud Hakoz said the Kingdom witnessed a decrease in traffic accidents and deaths in the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year.

In the first six months of 2013, Hakoz told reporters, there were 42,330 traffic accidents that resulted in 312 deaths and 6,296 injuries.

During the same period this year, he added, there were 37,575 accidents that left 231 dead and 4,426 injured.

Last year, there were 768 fatalities as a result of 107,864 road accidents that resulted in JD259 million in financial losses, according to Hakoz.

Fact Box

The following facts were reported by the various agencies of the Public Security Department, covering one year ending May 31: 

•7,713 illegal narcotics cases, including 712 cases of drug trafficking were dealt with. 

•The number of arrested suspects in drug-related cases stood at 10,792, including 1,296 non-Jordanians.

•Most of the seized drugs were destined to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Lebanon and Egypt.

•49,689 wanted persons, including 47,796 Jordanians, were arrested.

•3,529 stolen vehicles were retrieved.

•Police dealt with 202 vice cases in the first five months of this year.

•Road accidents killed 231 people up to May 31 this year, compared to 312 in the same period in 2014.