Attempt to smuggle narcotics via airmail parcels foiled

AMMAN — The Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) on Tuesday announced the arrest of two people, including a post office worker, who allegedly smuggled illegal narcotic pills into the country via airmail parcels.

The two suspects were arrested following a 10-day surveillance operation by AND agents after the department received a tip that a parcel filled with contraband would be delivered to the Kingdom within a certain time period, a senior AND official said.

“Our agents monitored the parcel until it reached its final destination at a post office and discovered that an employee there opened it and took out some objects from it, then closed it and returned it to the delivery counter,” the official explained.

The agents then monitored the suspect and arrested him while he was “meeting a second man to deliver the objects and discovered they were illegal drugs”, the official told The Jordan Times.

Upon searching the post office employee, “agents found two more parcels and more narcotic pills,” he added.

Around 50,000 pills were found in the possession of both suspects, according to a statement released by the Public Security Department.

“We are currently questioning the two suspects to determine if they had accomplices and whether there are more parcels with illegal drugs on the way to Jordan,” the official said.

He added that the department will tighten its monitoring of post offices and discuss with officials ways to strengthen procedures to prevent such kind of smuggling operations in the future.

“This is not the first time we have thwarted a smuggling operation that used airmail parcels, but it the first time an employee has been involved and this will definitely spur us to adopt new measures in the near future to prevent such operations from taking place,” the official said.