1,053 people arrested on drug charges in May — AND

AMMAN — The Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) on Sunday announced that 1,053 individuals were arrested in 603 drug-related criminal cases in the month of May.

“Some of the arrested individuals are classified as ‘dangerous’ drug dealers,” Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

All suspects were referred to the State Security Court prosecution office for further investigation and indictment, Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

In addition, 94 of the arrested individuals were admitted to the addiction treatment centre, according to the police official.

The PSD official said that 349 kilogrammes of hashish, 1.6 million Captagon pills, four kilos of crystal myth, 3.35 kilogrammes of marijuana and a number of weapons and ammunition were seized in the cases.

The PSD spokesperson stressed that that the law-enforcement agency will continue to clamp down on illicit drug trafficking and sales in the Kingdom.

In 2022, there were 5,295 cases of drug trafficking in the Kingdom, according to the Criminal Information Department (CID), affiliated with the Public Security Directorate (PSD).

The statistics also showed that in 2022, the Kingdom witnessed an illicit drug crime every 28 minutes.

Amman registered the highest number of drug crime cases at 7,260 incidents, followed by the Central Region at 4,212 cases and the Northern Region at 3,836, according to the figures.

The CID report pointed out that 1,801 foreign nationals were arrested in 2022 in relation to drug cases. In 2021, 1,983 non-Jordanians were arrested in connection to drug crimes.

In September 2022, the PSD announced that the department’s anti-drug operations will continue “until the issue is eliminated”.

During a visit to the Anti-Narcotics Department, PSD Director Maj. Gen. Obaidallah Maaytah said that combating drugs has become an issue of national concern and a responsibility for all Jordanians, stressing that efforts to arrest drug dealers “will never stop”.