Attempt to smuggle 147,150 cartons of cigarettes foiled at Aqaba Port

AMMAN — Jordan Customs Department (JCD) personnel, in cooperation with security bodies, on Saturday said they thwarted an attempt to smuggle around 147,150 cartons of different brands of cigarettes into the country.

The owner of the three containers, which arrived at Aqaba Port, claimed that the contents included medical beds, sports equipment and water filter machines, a senior JCD official said.

“Our agents became suspicious of the containers’ contents and decided to conduct a thorough search,” the JCD official told The Jordan Times.

The search yielded 2,943 boxes that contained 147,150 cartons of cigarettes, according to a JCD statement.

“We have seized the boxes, imposed JD3 million in fines on its owner and referred the case to the prosecutor general,” the JCD official said.

He noted that this is the second largest bust of smuggled cigarettes in the history of the department.

In May this year, authorities thwarted what they described as one of the largest smuggling attempts in the history of the JCD. 

The cigarettes entered the Kingdom in nine container trucks that came from the Jabal Ali area in Dubai and were said to be containing cement.

The smuggling attempt was discovered at the Wadi Al Yutum customs checkpoint.
While the driver of the first truck ran away, the others were detained in Aqaba; the fines amounted to over JD7 million.