Jordan shot down guided balloons carrying smuggled drugs at eastern border
Jordan's Eastern Military Region said border guard units brought down guided balloons carrying a large quantity of drugs inside Jordanian territory on the morning of 9 November 2026 and seized the cargo. The drugs were passed to the competent authorities, and no weight, arrests or border of origin were reported.
🇯🇴 Jordan's eastern border, Eastern Military Region, Jordan
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Jordan’s Eastern Military Region foiled an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of drugs by guided
balloons on the morning of Monday, 9 November 2026.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]Border guard units spotted the
balloons heading towards Jordanian territory, brought them down inside it and seized the drugs they
carried.[1][2][3][10][5][7][8][9]Petra’s statement says the units acted within their own area of
responsibility[10]; the Qatari news agency placed the balloons at two different points on the border.[11][12]The guards acted with security and military bodies and the Anti-Narcotics Department, and the
seized material was handed to the competent authorities for legal action.[1][3][5][7][8][9]
The Jordan Armed Forces said they would keep confronting infiltration and smuggling attempts by any
method to protect the kingdom’s security and its citizens.[1][5][7]
Photos and video
Photo published with the Jo24 report on drug-laden balloons shot down over Jordan's eastern border; the source gives no further description of what it shows.Photo details
الأنباطalanbatnews.netARالمنطقة العسكرية الشرقية تحبط محاولة تهريب مواد مخدرة بواسطة بالونات موجّهة
اليوم السابع (Youm7)youm7.comARأهم الأخبار العربية والعالمية حتى الظهيرة.. ماركو روبيو حذر ترامب من علاقة رئيس إنفيديا بجاسوسة صينية.. اليونان تنتشل 12 جثة على متن قارب يقل مهاجرين.. الأردن يحبط محاولة تهريب مواد مخدرة بواسطة بالونات موجهة
Jordan Customs Anti-Smuggling patrols foiled a narcotics smuggling attempt on 9 October 2026, seizing 296 slabs of hashish and six kilograms of marijuana. The department credited joint work with security agencies.
Jordan's Public Security Directorate recorded 22,031 drug crimes in 2025, down 12.8 per cent from 25,260 in 2024. Possession and use fell 10 per cent to 15,720 and trafficking 19 per cent to 6,311. A separate human-rights report had compared 2025 crimes with 2024 arrests, producing a misleading 34 per cent drop.
The Anti-Narcotics Department reported 25,260 drug cases involving 38,782 people in 2024. It seized 3,000 kg of hashish, 262 kg of marijuana and 27.5 million Captagon pills, and 744 people entered rehabilitation. The figures cover all drugs, not cannabis alone.
The Jordanian army reported intercepting more than 17,000 packets of hashish from Syria since the start of 2022, alongside 17 million Captagon pills, as skirmishes with smugglers became more frequent. The military adopted a shoot-to-kill policy after smugglers killed a Jordanian soldier in January.