Jordanian border guards kill four attempting to enter kingdom

AMMAN: Jordanian border guards killed four people and detained two others attempting to sneak into the kingdom Sunday, the army said, adding that it had also foiled two bids to smuggle drugs.

“An infiltration operation was foiled after watching six people attempt to cross the Jordanian (border),” an unnamed military official said in a statement.

“The rules of engagement were implemented leading to the death of four and the wounding of two others who were transported to the relevant authorities.”

Separately, the army said “two bids to smuggle a large quantity of drugs” had been thwarted.

In the first operation, border guards confiscated 362,000 tablets of Captagon, a popular amphetamine, and 50,000 tablets of Tramadol, a powerful opiate-based painkiller.

In the second, they seized 28 bricks of hashish and 72,000 Captagon tablets.

The statement did not specify which neighbouring country the smugglers or the infiltrators were coming from.

Jordan’s army regularly announces that it has foiled attempts to infiltrate or smuggle drugs into the kingdom from neighbouring Syria.

Some 650,000 Syrian refugees have registered with the United Nations in Jordan since fleeing their country’s seven-year war, which started with antigovernment protests in 2011.

Amman estimates the true number of refugees is closer to 1.3 million.

Jordanian authorities have arrested and imprisoned dozens of jihadists trying to sneak across the border to fight in Syria.

Captagon is one of the most commonly used drugs among fighters in the Syrian war.

But dozens of drug traffickers have also been detained by Jordanian authorities.

Jordan’s interior ministry estimates 85 percent of the drugs it seizes have been earmarked for smuggling outside the kingdom. — AFP