Jordan says foiled drug smuggling attempt from Syria

Jordan said it had foiled an attempt to smuggle drugs into the country from Syria on Monday, according to the state news agency Petra.

Quoting a military source, Petra said several smugglers were injured in clashes with security forces before retreating back into Syrian territory.

The amount of the seized drugs was not disclosed.

War-ravaged Syria has become the region's main site for the mass production of the addictive, amphetamine-type stimulant known as captagon, with Jordan a key transit route to the oil-rich Gulf states, Western anti-narcotics officials say.

Jordanian officials, like their Western allies, say that Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group and pro-Iranian militias who control much of southern Syria are behind a surge in the multi-billion-dollar drugs and weapons trade. Iran and Hezbollah deny the allegations.

Since last year, Jordan's army has conducted several pre-emptive airstrikes inside Syria that Jordanian officials say targeted militias linked to the drug trade and their facilities, in a bid to stem a rise in cross-border incursions.

(Reuters)