SOHR: 4 drug smugglers from Syria killed

The Jordanian army announced in a statement yesterday that it had killed 4 smugglers and wounded others while they were trying to cross the border from Syria to the kingdom, with large quantities of drugs in their possession.
The statement quoted an official military Source in the General Command of the Armed Forces as saying that “the front-line monitors of the Border Guard forces, and in coordination with the security services and the Anti-Narcotics Department, spotted a group of people coming from Syrian territory to Jordanian territory, and they tried to cross the border illegally with the support of armed groups.” The rapid reaction mechanisms dealt with these groups by applying the rules of engagement.
He explained that “the operation that took place at dawn yesterday, resulted in the killing of 4 smugglers, the injury of a number of them, and the escape of others into the depths of Syria.”
He added that after intensifying searches and searches in the area, 637,000 Captagon pills, 181 hashish palms, 39,600 Tramadol pills and a Kalashnikov weapon were found, and the seizures were transferred to the competent authorities. The Source stressed that “the armed forces have thwarted, since the beginning of this year, many infiltration and smuggling operations in all its forms.”
On January 27, the Jordanian army announced that it had thwarted a number of attempts to smuggle large quantities of narcotic drugs, and killed 27 smugglers while trying to cross the border from Syria to the kingdom, with the support of armed groups.
In addition, informed sources confirmed that one of the dead drug smugglers was linked to the Lebanese “Hezbollah” militia, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The sources indicated that among the dead was the leader of the group, who was working in the drug trade, had close ties to leaders in Hezbollah, and headed a local group operating in the southern region of Syria, and comprising dozens of members.
In addition, the sources pointed out that groups linked to “Hezbollah” have recently intensified the transfer of drugs from Lebanon to areas in Daraa and As-Suwayda governorates, with the aim of bringing them into a number of Arab countries.
Jordan, which has hosted about 1.6 million Syrian refugees since the outbreak of the crisis in Syria in March 2011, has tightened over the past few years procedures at its border with Syria, which extends more than 300 km, and has arrested and imprisoned dozens of fighters, a large number of them extremists, for trying to infiltrate into the country. Syrian territory to fight there.
Amman confirms that 85 percent of the seized drugs are intended for smuggling out of Jordan.