Syrians Smuggling Illegal Arms into Jordan

Published: 07 August 2013

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Two Syrians were arrested on Tuesday the 6th of August 2013 for attempting to smuggle a hoard of illegal arms across the border into Jordan.

A Jordanian security official told ABC News that the cache included anti-tank missiles, surface-to-air missiles and assault rifles. Moreover, this was the second attempt to smuggle extensive munitions across the border.

Earlier reports stated that five Syrians were arrested. The security official said that “the reason for discrepancy in the number was not immediately clear” and refused to elaborate further.

Late last Thursday another group of arms smugglers, some of them Syrian, were caught by Jordanian police, and found to be concealing the largest cache of weaponry to be brought into Syria during the current conflict.

It is not yet known whether the smugglers in either attempt were affiliated with any side of Syria’s civil war.

Fox News, citing the ongoing investigation, stated that Jordan is concerned that Syria’s war will stretch across the border and that al-Qaida-linked groups may orchestrate attacks to undermine the pro-U.S. kingdom.