Quadrilateral meeting in Jordan discusses issue of drug smuggling

DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – The interior ministers of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan met in Amman on Saturday and discussed joint efforts to fight drug trafficking in the region.

The meeting was attended by Jordanian Minister of Interior Affairs Mazen al-Faraya, along with his Iraqi counterpart Abdul Amir al-Shammari, Syrian counterpart Mohammad Khaled al-Rahmoun, and Lebanese counterpart Bassam Mawlawi.

The meeting discussed enhancing cooperation to address common challenges in curbing the growing drug smuggling in the region which has become a threat to social peace.

The meeting also touched on boosting security cooperation to secure the national interest for every country in the region.

In January, Jordan emphasized that drug and weapon smuggling across the Syrian borders into Jordan is a dangerous threat to its national security, and that it would continue to combat this problem and anyone behind it.

Spokesperson for the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Suffian al-Qudah, said on Jan. 23 that Jordan has provided the Syrian government, during meetings of the Jordanian-Syrian Joint Committee for Combating Drug Smuggling across the Syrian Borders into Jordan, with the names of smugglers and the entities behind them, as well as the locations of drug manufacturing and storage sites, and smuggling routes, which are under the control of the Syrian government.

However, Qudah emphasized that “no concrete action has been taken to neutralize the danger.”

By Muaz al-Muhammad