Jordan shoots down drug-laden drone from Syria in ninth incident this year

Jordan’s armed forces have brought down a drone laden with drugs from Syria for the ninth time this year, according to a military statement.

A drone carrying crystal meth was intercepted after flying across the border from Syria, the statement released on Monday said.

“The border guard forces, in coordination with the narcotics control department and the military security services, monitored an attempt by an unmanned drone to illegally cross the border from Syrian territory to Jordanian territory, and it was shot down inside Jordanian territory,” the statement said.

Last month, the Jordanian army shot down three drones carrying narcotics from Syria that had crossed over the porous, 375km (233-mile) border the countries share.

War-torn Syria has become a hub for the multibillion-dollar drugs trade, and Jordan is a main transit route to the oil-rich Gulf states for a Syrian-made amphetamine known as Captagon, Western anti-narcotics officials say.

President Bashar al-Assad’s promise to crack down on drug trafficking paved the way for Syria’s re-entry into the Arab League in May after it had been ostracised for 12 years.