Retired Jordanian Major General Anwar Tarawneh raised a question about the existence of official Israeli sponsorship of drug smuggling operations into Jordan.
Such a question from a prominent security expert who previously headed the anti-narcotics agency for several years suggests that key figures in the Kingdom's security establishment possess information they are sharing with the public. This comes after inquiries from the regional body responsible for drug operations in the area had been kept under wraps in Jordan.
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Tarawneh’s question, which no official had previously asked, and which his retirement apparently allowed him to ask, came about two weeks ago, the gist of which is that targeting Jordan with drugs is a programmed Israeli behavior.
Tarawneh's question, which no official had previously asked, and which his retirement apparently allowed him to pose, came within an article written as a commentary on an investigative report published by the British newspaper "The Telegraph".
According to informed sources who spoke official data does not reveal that approximately 80% of smuggling operations originate from the occupied Palestinian territories, i.e., the Israeli entity. This occurs amidst suspicions of official sponsorship and a reluctance to implement measures to deter organized criminal smuggling gangs, with the aim of isolating Jordan politically, socially, and economically.
This is what intelligence and military expert Nidal Abu Zeid had previously discussed in statements to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, pointing to the complicity of sectors within the Israeli army that are heavily deployed along the Jordan Valley border with Jordan.
Meanwhile, Tarawneh pointed out that the nature of the highly advanced military and security equipment deployed by the Israeli army in most of the areas it controls in the Jordan Valley, near the northern border with Jordan and southern Syria is of a type that drug smuggling gangs cannot penetrate.
It is true that Tarawneh points in his article to economic reasons for the drug trade, related to the profits and ambitions of organized gangs and groups, and social and security reasons, but he does not absolve Israel of having indirect official sponsorship, the goal of which is political.
This political objective is linked to undermining Jordan's declared principles, as Brigadier General Abu Zeid anticipates, citing a series of provocative Israeli actions along the Jordan Valley border. These actions, he says, go beyond simply turning a blind eye to drug smuggling from the Beersheba area (in southern occupied Palestine) or through areas in Syria's Suwaida Governorate. They include settlement expansion in the Jordan Valley, militarization of the area, and the establishment of settlement outposts, all for political reasons related to resolving the conflict and transforming the West Bank population into a Jordanian problem.
Based on all of this, it is likely that the official silence on the issue of the Israeli drug war against Jordanians will not last long, as Jordanians generally feel that there are Israeli fingers organizing smuggling gangs, remaining silent about them, and providing them with care, in the manner of the former Syrian regime, which is what Tarawneh alluded to.
It is likely that the official silence regarding the Israeli drug war against Jordanians will not last long.
The British newspaper The Telegraph previously reported, in its investigation, that Jordanian military officials suspected Israel of providing support to organized smuggling gangs. These gangs use highly sophisticated and modern technologies, including remotely piloted drones and electronically inflated balloons.
Perhaps the most dangerous type of drug being smuggled is the highly toxic and deadly crystal meth, which has attracted the attention of Jordanian anti-smuggling authorities, as the number of those involved in smuggling it has reached more than 180 people who are being prosecuted.
The State Security Court and the military courts have announced that they will pursue the harshest and most severe penalties stipulated in the Penal Code in cases of smuggling this substance, given its extreme danger and its role, as Jordanians call it, in the war on Jordanian society, to increase the cost of living and economic burdens.
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