Arab interior ministers meet to discuss drug smuggling from Syria

The foreign ministers of Cairo, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Arab League Secretary-General meet in Cairo on August 15, 2023. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)

ALBAWABA – A quadrilateral meeting was held in Amman, Jordan, where the interior ministers of Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon met with security directors and internal security officials, as well as their ambassadors, to discuss the drug smuggling, combat it, and strengthen cooperation.

Among those who took part in the meeting were: the General Director of Public Security, Major General Obaidallah Al-Muhayyat, Advisor to the Iraqi Minister of Interior, Lieutenant General Ziad Ali, the Syrian Drug Enforcement Administration Director, Major General Nidal Jareeh, and Secretary-General of the Central Lebanese Internal Security Council, Colonel Sami Nasseef.

Jordan’s Interior Minister, Mazen al-Faraya, announced the formation of a joint contact cell comprised of liaison officers from Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria, intending to exchange experience on drug smuggling activities.

After the meeting in Amman of the four interior ministers, Al-Faraya stated that everyone acknowledges the existence of a big problem, which is the drug smuggling crisis, and that governments are working on a national level to address this phenomenon.

However, without united coordination efforts by the collecting countries, the outcomes would not be as promising, Al-Faraya asserted.

“The most important thing we agreed upon is the recognition of the problem and the agreement on the need to follow up on these meetings at the ministerial and technical levels, and the establishment of a joint contact cell with liaison officers from the different countries concerned with exchanging expertise and training and following up on the previous and subsequent information, and tracking the shipments from the countries to their final destination” Al-Faraya stated.

Tareq Al-Majali, a spokesperson for the Jordanian Ministry of Interior, stated that the meeting’s goal is to discuss the drug problem, combat it, and strengthen cooperation in this framework to confront the common challenges that have become a threat to the communities in the region, where this scourge has become one of the most visible threats to social peace.

Al-Majali went on to say that the gathering is looking into methods to improve security cooperation so that the region’s countries may attain their highest national objectives, Roya TV reported.

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