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Syria will step up security measures on its border with Jordan to counter drug and weapon traffickers, Sputnik reported on January 25.
A Syrian security official told the Russian news agency that a delegation from the Russian Military Police, Syrian security forces and former rebels who joined the 2018 Daraa reconciliation process inspected the border line with Jordan on January 24 to see how it can be secured better.
“The tour was carried out to examine the field in preparation for setting new measures to curb smuggling operations and prevent the movement of militants across borders between the two countries,” the unnamed official said.
“A decision was taken to increase the number of border posts between the two countries, in addition to the continuation of patrols by the Russian Military Police in the area between the countryside of al-Suwayda and Daraa.”
Smuggling operations between Syria and Jordan increased significantly in the last few years, with the main material being Captagon, a codrug of amphetamine and theophylline that is widely abused in the Middle East.
Lebanese and Syrian Captagon traffickers managed to turn the kingdom to one of the main drug smuggling routes in the region.
Last week, the Jordanian military thwarted an attempt to smuggle more than one million Captagon bills, four tons of “Hashish” and loads of ammunition from Syria. The military has been leading the Kingdom’s counter-smuggling efforts for more than year now.
Jordan has already discussed the smuggling problem with both Syria and Russia. Damascus’s decision to implement new security measures on its side of the border line are likely meant to address the Amman’s concerns and cut the main route of drug and weapon traffickers in Syria.
