On Friday, February 9, the Men of Dignity movement destroyed the narcotics they had seized the previous day, Thursday, during an attempt to smuggle them into the Arabian Gulf region.

The Suwayda 24 local network reported that the destruction took place in the presence of representatives of religious and social activities, dignitaries of the province, and leaders from the Men of Dignity movement and local factions.

On Thursday, the network cited a source from the Men of Dignity movement saying that the shipment contained about 200,000 Captagon pills, which were inadvertently found in a transport truck crossing into the area, which a citizen from As-Suwayda had bought a few days earlier from the province of Homs for work between Syria and the Gulf states.

After maintenance conducted by the buyer in the Damascus countryside, he noticed after leaving the workshop that there were added parts not previously there, causing friction with the tires. He then went to another workshop in As-Suwayda, where the drugs were discovered after dismantling the added parts that had been installed in the Damascus countryside.

A comprehensive scan of all parts of the truck led to the discovery of large quantities of Captagon drugs hidden inside.

The Jordanian border with the southern Syrian region has been experiencing continuing tensions for months due to an escalation in attempted drug smuggling from Syrian territory towards Jordan.

The Men of Dignity movement, which is one of the largest military factions in As-Suwayda, had previously proposed a nine-point initiative to Jordan, to cooperate on issues related to combating drugs originating from the region towards Jordan, which still has not received any official responses.

On February 7, the Jordanian army thwarted a smuggling attempt which resulted in the death of three smugglers and injuries to others, and large quantities of drugs were seized, without specifying the amounts. In addition, a member of the Jordanian border guard forces was injured during the clash and is in a “critical” health condition.

Promotion from Palmyra

While drug smuggling operations continue from Syria on a regional scale towards neighboring countries like Jordan and the Arab Gulf states, the Syrian regime turns to promoting drug combat efforts by announcing the capture of “involved” individuals in drug trafficking and local promotion.

On Friday, the official Syrian News Agency (SANA), quoted an unnamed security source saying that an attempt to smuggle a drug shipment had been thwarted, and quantities of cannabis, which were in the possession of the smugglers and prepared for smuggling across the borders, were seized by what the agency called “terrorist organizations”.

The operation was thwarted in Palmyra, in the eastern countryside of Homs, according to SANA.