12 suspected drug dealers arrested in Irbid, badia raids

AMMAN — The Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) on Thursday arrested 12 suspected Jordanian drug traffickers in Central Badia and in Irbid, official sources said.

“No one was injured in the raids although some defendants showed resistance in the beginning but all operations went as planned,” a senior official source told The Jordan Times.

The Central Badia raid targeted eight houses and nine people were arrested, according to a statement by the Public Security Department (PSD).

“Police seized two kilogrammes of hashish, some firearms, and three vehicles that were wanted and were not registered with the traffic department,” the statement said.

The second raid was in a neighbourhood in Irbid, where AND agents arrested three suspects, according to the PSD statement.

The suspects were allegedly in possession of hashish, illegal pills and other illegal narcotic substances, the statement added.

“Thursday’s raids are part of our ongoing campaign to target drug traffic dealers in various governorates in Jordan and our efforts are paying off,” the senior official said.

Speaking at a lecture in September, Deputy PSD Director for Criminal Investigation Affairs Maj. Gen. Tahsin Momani said 5,490 drug cases were registered in the first six months of 2015, 468 of which were related to trafficking, 36 to addiction and 4,986 to possession.

In November, AND said it destroyed illegal drugs seized in 71 cases, valued at around JD180 million. 

The destroyed drugs included 1,000 kilogrammes of marijuana, 848 kilogrammes of hashish, 314 kilogrammes of cocaine, 149 kilogrammes of heroin, 174 kilogrammes of synthetic hashish, 4,000 bags of synthetic cannabis (locally known as “joker”) and 28,268,560 Captagon pills.