AMMAN, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Jordan's Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) said on Wednesday that it has thwarted a major drug smuggling operation, seizing 9.5 million narcotic pills and arresting members of two smuggling gangs linked to regional networks.
The Public Security Directorate said the AND foiled two separate attempts to smuggle drugs, seizing a total of 9.5 million pills and 143 kg of hashish, the state-run Petra news agency reported.
Authorities said they had tracked the smuggling rings for nearly two months, uncovering their connections to regional drug production and trafficking networks. The gangs were preparing to transport large quantities of narcotics across the border.
Through investigations, AND teams identified the smugglers' modus operandi, which involved concealing the drugs within heavy construction machinery.
Acting on this intelligence, authorities confiscated the machinery at the Al-Omari border crossing between Jordan and Saudi Arabia, discovering the narcotics hidden within various compartments.
Additionally, officers raided the gangs' hideout in Ramtha, a city in the far north of Jordan near the border with Syria, seizing further quantities of narcotic pills.
The Jordanian authorities did not specify the type of narcotic pills seized, nor did they detail the number of arrests made. ■
