AND captures Captagon smugglers near Azraq

AMMAN — The Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) on Wednesday arrested four Arab nationals who were allegedly attempting to smuggle half-a-million Captagon pills into a neighbouring country near the Azraq border, officials said.

The four men were arrested before being able to smuggle the illicit drugs into the neighbouring country, a senior AND official told The Jordan Times.

“No law enforcement agents were injured in the operations," the AND official said.

The official added that the AND received a tip that a group of men were “preparing a shipment of Captagon pills, which they planned to smuggle in a trailer”.

“We followed the suspects and were able to arrest them in different areas, including the suspect who was driving [with] the trailer, where we found the stashed drugs,” the official source added.

Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times that “after searching the vehicle thoroughly, AND agents found the pills hidden in plastic tubes”.

Sartawi added that the suspects were referred to the State Security Court prosecutor for further questioning and indictment.

Captagon (fenethylline) is a synthetic stimulant similar to amphetamine. The pills are usually manufactured and transported from neighbouring countries in the north via Jordan to rich countries on the southern borders, AND officials have told The Jordan Times in previous interviews.

Drug smugglers, officials have said, target rich countries “because one Captagon pill there is worth JD7, while its market value in Jordan does not exceed JD1 per pill”.

Although banned in most countries in the 1980s, illegally produced and smuggled Captagon — sometimes containing amphetamine instead of fenethylline — is a common drug abused in the Middle East, according to web sources.