The Jordanian military has intercepted a haul of one million Captagon pills being smuggled from Syria, it said on Sunday.
In the past two years, Jordan has become a major smuggling route for the illegal stimulant, from Syrian regime areas to inner Arabia and for consumption in the country itself.
A statement by the military said border units in northern Jordan had “foiled at dawn on Sunday an attempt to smuggle a large amounts of drug substances from Syrian to Jordanian territory”.
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According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, trafficking in amphetamines has increased in the Middle East in recent years. Photo: Dubai Customs -
Specially trained K-9 units are often used by border forces to intercept shipments. EPA -
Experts believe the amount intercepted accounts for only around a tenth of the total quantity of pills being smuggled out of places like Syria and Jordan. EPA -
Dubai Customs thwarted 398 attempts to smuggle drugs into the city in the first three months of this year. Photo: Dubai Customs -
Captagon pills on display after being seized in Greece in 2019. EPA -
Captagon became synonymous with the Syrian Civil War. AFP -
The small, off-white pills have quickly become one of the most widely consumed drugs in the Middle East. EPA -
Millions of Captagon pills are seized around the world each year. EPA -
Captagon pills on display after a major interception of a shipment in 2009. Nicole Hill / The National -
Customs officers say Captagon smugglers prefer to use sea ports rather than airports because of the size of shipping containers, enabling them to conceal larger quantities of drugs. Photo: Dubai Customs
“The smugglers ran away” after they were “engaged” by the Jordanian troops, and the pills were found when the army searched the area.
On a visit to military units near the border with Syria last month, Jordan’s King Abdullah II said smuggling of contraband from his country’s northern neighbour must be dealt with firmly.
Curbing drug flows from regime-controlled areas of Syria has been a major factor behind a Jordanian policy in the past two years of accommodating the government of President Bashar Al Assad by reopening borders and resuming trade.
An estimated $4 billion worth of Captagon pills is smuggled from areas under regime control to Jordan every year, security officials in the region say.
