Jordan-Israel Border Emerges as New Hotspot for High-Tech Drug Smuggling

Amman, Jordan – Jordanians fear the border with Israel is becoming a major drug-smuggling route, as gangs increasingly deploy sophisticated methods using drones and helium-filled balloons.

Organized networks operating in Israel's southern Negev desert, linked to groups in Jordan and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, run their operations along one of the most heavily monitored borders in the world. Jordanian officials are increasingly concerned about the repercussions this could have for the kingdom.

The development coincides with shifts in the regional drug market, particularly after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's fall in late 2024. Some elements of his former government were tied to the production and distribution of Captagon, a banned amphetamine-type synthetic drug. Syria had become a distribution hub for Captagon to the Gulf, with Jordan serving as both a transit point and a consumer market. The Royal Jordanian Air Force carried out periodic airstrikes on drug production and smuggling sites inside Syrian territory, reflecting Amman's major security concerns over the trade.

Since the Assad government fell and a new administration that treats Captagon smuggling as a national security issue took power, drug trafficking from Syria into Jordan has declined. However, while Druze militias in Syria's Suwayda province, reportedly linked to Israel, are accused of continuing drug trafficking, Jordanian security forces are increasingly focused on the border with Israel.

According to accounts, the use of quadcopter drones and balloons is among the new tactics used by gangs in Israel to funnel hashish, crystal meth and amphetamine into Jordan. Jordanian security forces are said to be increasingly frustrated by the scale of the drug smuggling and have accused the Israeli military of not tackling the problem seriously.

Preliminary figures from Jordanian forces record 17 drone-related interceptions in the first half of 2026 in the southwestern border area with Israel. Over the same period, they also recorded 231 smuggling and infiltration cases and shot down 56 drones along various border routes.

Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya told Al Jazeera that Jordanian forces continue to work to stop drugs being brought into the kingdom, but clearly face increasingly complex operations by traffickers. "Drug smuggling from Israel into Jordan by drone is increasing. The number of drug seizures this year has reached 15,342 cases. Sales and transport cases make up about 28 percent, compared with 72 percent for use cases," he said.

Israeli media say gangs operating in the Negev desert are behind some of the smuggling into Jordan, where drugs can fetch higher prices. According to estimates cited by Britain's The Telegraph, 1 kg of hashish can sell for about 7,500 pounds (nearly $10,000). Israeli security agencies believe hashish prices in Jordan are about 15 times higher than in Israel.

According to reports, widespread social marginalization and poverty mean some elements within Palestinian communities in Israel are involved in drug trafficking. Many sources accuse Israel of tolerating Palestinian towns and cities becoming crime hubs in order to sow division and block demands for greater rights.

Jordanian Senator Ammar al-Qudah, a former major general in the Public Security Directorate, said organized gangs in the Negev have acquired more than 1,000 drones originally used for agricultural and security purposes. "Smuggling networks are linked to other gangs in Jordan, Sinai and the Negev, along a route that starts in Sinai, passes through the Negev and reaches Wadi Araba, alongside other routes including the Lebanon-Israel border and the Galilee region toward Syria," he told Al Jazeera.

According to al-Qudah, the traffickers also use sophisticated technology to get past security systems on both sides of the border, including helium balloons fitted with GPS devices and drones capable of carrying about 50 kg of drugs, including black hashish and crystal meth. He warned that some of the black hashish and crystal meth brought into the kingdom is consumed domestically, with the rest moved on to other markets in the region.

With such high-tech operations, accusations have emerged that some members of Israeli forces are aware of the gangs' activities, based on previous experience in Egypt. A West Point report said people who track current smuggling routes and who formerly served in the Israeli military in the Negev were recruited by traffickers to provide intelligence, facilitating their operations in Egypt. In 2012, several Israeli soldiers were arrested on suspicion of colluding with drug smugglers across the Egyptian border.

Although there is no evidence that a similar situation has recurred on the Jordanian border, many ask how drones and balloons carrying drugs can cross the heavily monitored and guarded Israeli border into Jordan. Jordan's Anti-Narcotics Department, working with the armed forces, has been tracking the incidents and making arrests.

Retired Brigadier General Daifallah al-Daboubi, a strategic and military expert, said Jordan is seeing a "reverse drug wave" that begins in the Sinai Peninsula, passes through the Negev and reaches the kingdom. "Groups operating in Beersheba and the Negev have significant financial resources and use advanced smuggling methods, most notably drones," he said.

According to him, the Israeli military's preoccupation with wars in Gaza, Lebanon and the occupied Golan Heights has created space for traffickers to operate on the Jordanian border. However, he ruled out the possibility that Israel's political or military leadership is directly involved in any drug smuggling.

Steps Israel has taken to boost security on its eastern border include establishing the 96th Division, which began operating in the Jordan Valley in 2025, and building a controversial security fence with Jordan. However, none of these measures appears aimed at stopping drugs leaving Israel; instead, they are directed at preventing weapons and other illicit goods from entering the country from Jordan.