Jordan and neighbours to share information to fight drug smuggling

Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria have agreed to exchange information to counter narcotics smuggling, Jordanian Interior Minister Mazen Al Faraya said after a meeting with counterparts from the kingdom’s neighbouring countries.

The meeting in Amman was Jordan’s latest attempt to tackle the problem through both diplomatic and military action.

Such efforts have been bolstered in recent years by US assistance in fortifying its border with Syria – the main source of the drugs. A large proportion of contraband, mainly the amphetamine Captagon, is trafficked through Jordan onwards to other countries, particularly to Saudi Arabia.

“We all admit that there is a big problem, which is drugs, and that all of our societies are suffering,” Mr Al Faraya said on Saturday.

He said the ministers had agreed to set up a joint “communication cell” to pass on information on suspected smuggling. The Jordanian military said border forces killed five drug traffickers on the border with Syria on Sunday. They were part of a group attempting “to infiltrate and smuggle a large amount of drugs from Syrian territory”, a military official said.

Authorities in Amman have repeatedly accused the Syrian military and allied militias supported by Iran of playing a significant role in smuggling drugs across the kingdom’s border with Syria.

Among these non-state groups are Iraqi Shiite militias that the US also accuses of targeting its forces in Syria, Iraq and Jordan, where a drone attack killed three American soldiers last month.

The attacks have increased since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October.

At the urging of Russia, the most powerful backer of President Bashar Al Assad’s regime in Damascus, Jordanian and Syrian officials formed a joint anti-narcotics security committee last year.

However, the Jordanian military reported that trafficking continued to increase, prompting a tough response from Amman. The Syrian Foreign Ministry last month condemned air strikes by the kingdom on border areas perceived as a launch pad for the flow of drugs.

The number of raids, which monitoring groups claim have killed mainly civilians, had increased after hundreds of smugglers and militants transporting drugs and weapons tried to overrun the kingdom’s border defences in December. Jordan has not acknowledged carrying out the raids. The Syrian announcement was the first to recognise the operations since they started last May.

The desire to curb the drug flows from Syria has been a major factor in a regional rapprochement with Mr Al Assad.

He had been largely ostracised after his security forces violently suppressed pro-democracy protests in March 2011, leading to civil war.

Mr Al Assad denies his regime is involved with the drug trade and has blamed neighbouring countries he did not name for what he called “chaos” in Syria.

A large proportion of contraband, mainly the amphetamine Captagon, is trafficked through Jordan to other countries