Jordan army 'injures drug smugglers' in gunfight on Syria border

Jordan's army said it injured smugglers trying to smuggle drugs over the border from Syria on Saturday.

Jordanian security forces engaged in a "direct shooting clash" with smugglers attempting to cross into Jordan through its border with Syria, injuring "a number" of smugglers, the army said in a statement.

The army said its response had prevented an attempt to smuggle in "large quantities of narcotics coming from Syrian territory".

Jordan says often that it has had to stop attempts to smuggle in drugs and weaponry by land and air across the Syrian border. The smuggling of the amphetamine-like drug captagon across the border has been of particular nuisance to Jordan.

The Syrian regime has been accused of using the manufacture and trafficking of captagon as a bargaining chip to reintegrate itself into the Arab world, amid heavy US sanctions.

Senior Syrian and Jordanian officials met last month to discuss security at their shared border, including the smuggling of captagon.

Syrian and Jordanian intelligence officials have also met to discuss how to curb drug smuggling across the border.