Six arrested in attempt to smuggle 35,000 narcotic pills in biscuit packets

AMMAN — Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agents have thwarted an attempt to smuggle 35,000 narcotic pills hidden in biscuit packets, arresting six suspects, the Public Security Department (PSD) said Saturday.

AND agents had received a tip that a group of people was planning to smuggle an amount of drugs outside the Kingdom by hiding them in food products, and investigations led them to the suspects.

The investigators raided a house in Mafraq, some 80km northeast of Amman, where the suspects were reportedly preparing the drugs for smuggling.

The suspects were arrested, the drugs seized, and the case was referred to the State Security Court prosecutor, according to the PSD statement, carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra

So far this year, AND agents have foiled several attempts to smuggle drugs hidden inside items that would not look suspicious to authorities.

In July, they seized 500,000 narcotic pills in an attempted smuggling operation at Queen Alia International Airport. Two suspects hid 300,000 pills in children’s bags while the remaining 200,000 pills were found with a third suspect.

Also in July, AND foiled an attempt to smuggle 200,000 narcotic pills found hidden inside a car tyre.

In June, they thwarted an attempt to smuggle drugs that were hidden in a package of sweets planned to be shipped out of the Kingdom. They tracked the package that was supposed to contain toffees but a thorough inspection revealed 30,000 narcotic pills hidden inside.

In May, AND officers aborted two attempts to smuggle half-a-million Captagon pills that were hidden in large marble blocks and children’s beds.

In April, they arrested a suspect in the northern region of the Kingdom for allegedly hiding 37,000 Captagon pills inside olives that he intended to smuggle to a neighbouring country.

The suspect reportedly extracted the seeds of thousands of olives and replaced them with Captagon pills wrapped in small plastic bags, AND said.