Police raid marijuana farm in Amman

Police on Thursday announced the arrest of three people who allegedly own a marijuana farm in an Amman suburb, official sources said. “A group of specialised police forces (SWAT 30) and agents of the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) raided the farm at dawn on Thursday after receiving a tip that its owners were planting marijuana then selling it on the local market,” Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Mohammad Khatib said. The special forces team studied the premises carefully in order to carry out the raid without causing any injuries and no one was injured in the operation, he told The Jordan Times. The police official added that AND personnel “seized 80 kilogrammes of planted marijuana from the farm”, noting that this was the first reported incident of pot cultivation in the Kingdom. “This is the first time we have handled such a case and we believe it is rare to find marijuana farms in Jordan,” Khatib said, adding that the suspects were referred to the State Security Court prosecutor, who started to question them immediately. Earlier in the month, Jordan marked World Anti-Narcotics Day by pledging to continue to combat drug abuse and trafficking in the Kingdom. “Our main aim is to preserve Jordan’s security and stability by focusing on preventive measures to combat illicit drugs in the country,” AND Director Colonel Muhannad Attar said at a special event to mark the occasion. According to AND reports, the PSD dealt with 3,641 drug-related cases in 2009, including 661 trafficking cases and 2,980 related to addiction and possession, while 6,379 people of various nationalities were referred to the judiciary.