File image.
On February 25, the Eastern Military District of the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) thwarted an attempt to smuggle weapons from Syria into the Kingdom on a drone.
An official from the JAF’s General Command said in a statement that the drone was intercepted by border guards while attempting to illegally cross the Jordanian border. An American-made M4-type assault rifle and four hand grenades were recovered from the quadcopter drone, which was booby-trapped.
“JAF will continue to deal firmly with any threat on Jordan’s borders, and any endeavors intended to undermine and destabilize the Kingdom’s security and terrorize its citizens” the unnamed official said.
A photo released by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, revealed that the drone used in the weapons smuggling attempt was a commercially-available DJI Matrice 300 RTK.
Click to see full-size image. Source: the Jordanian News Agency (Petra)
This was not the first time traffickers have been documented using drones on the Syrian-Jordanian border line. In May 2022, the JAF shot down a drone flying a large quantity of drugs across the border.
Syria’s southern region became a hub for illicit weapon trade after the outbreak of the war in the country. Most of the weapons being trafficked from the region were supplied by the United States and its allies to Syrian rebels in the early years of the war.
In 2018, Jordan backed an agreement that saw all rebel-held areas in southern Syria returning to government control. However, drug and weapon traffickers are still very active in the region, especially in the governorate of Daraa. In response to this situation, Syrian government forces stepped up their presence on the border with the kingdom earlier this year in coordination with the Russian Military Police.
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