The Jordanian army announced in a statement on Tuesday that the Border Guard forces shot down a drone coming from Syria that tried to cross the Jordanian border while it was loaded with drugs.

The statement quoted an official military source in the General Command of the Armed Forces as saying, "The Border Guard forces, in coordination with the military security services and the Anti-Narcotics Department, detected an attempt to illegally cross the border from Syrian territory into Jordanian territory, and it was shot down inside Jordanian territory." .

He added, "After the plane was shot down, it was found that it was carrying 500 grams of (narcotic) crystal," referring to "the transfer of the seized items to the competent authorities."

The source emphasized that "the Jordanian armed forces continue to deal with all force and firmness, with any threat on the border fronts, and any endeavors intended to undermine and destabilize the security of the homeland and terrorize its citizens."

On February 25th, the Jordanian army announced that it had shot down a drone coming from Syria carrying hand grenades and a rifle.

The Jordanian monarch, King Abdullah II, vowed on May 22 to strike the local and regional drug gangs that threaten the kingdom's "national and regional security with an iron fist." The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain, announced on the eighth of this month, "the killing of Marai al-Ramthan and his family of of his wife and six children as a result of the Jordanian warplanes targeting a building containing their house in the village of Al-Shaab in the eastern countryside of As-Suwayda" at the border with Jordan.

Al-Ramathan is considered, according to the observatory, "one of the most prominent drug dealers, including Captagon, in the region and the one responsible for smuggling it to Jordan."

There was no Jordanian comment on the raid.

The Jordanian army announces, from time to time, that it has thwarted smuggling of weapons and drugs coming from the Syrian territories.

On February 17 of last year, the Jordanian army announced that it had thwarted a large number of attempts to smuggle drugs across the 375-kilometre border, which had become "organised", using drones and protected by armed groups.

The army said at the time that the Jordanian authorities thwarted, within about 45 days in early 2022, the entry of more than 16 million Captagon pills, equivalent to the quantity that was seized throughout the year 2021.

The Kingdom confirms that 85 percent of the drugs seized are intended for smuggling out of Jordan, especially to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.

The Captagon industry is not new in the region, and Syria has been the most prominent source of this substance since before the war broke out in 2011. However, the conflict made its manufacture more popular, used and exported. Captagon pill factories are also active in several areas in neighboring Lebanon.

The Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia, are the main destination for Captagon pills, which are easy-to-manufacture drugs and classified by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as “a type of stimulating amphetamine,” which is usually a mixture of amphetamines, caffeine, and other substances.