Jordan seizes nine automatic firearms carried into Karak by thermal balloon
Authorities in Jordan recovered nine automatic firearms from a bag in Karak Governorate that had been transported by thermal balloon. Investigators' preliminary findings point to the country's southern border as the weapons' route into Jordan.
Mariam Al Mansoori
Police recover weapons and tracking devices
A report of a suspicious bag in Muhy brought Karak Police Department officers to the site, a General Security Directorate spokesperson said. Police secured the area before specialists inspected the bag.
Alongside the firearms, specialists found location-tracking devices. The Public Security Directorate said authorities seized the contents and established that a thermal balloon had carried them. The investigation remains open.
Another balloon interception on the southern border
Jordanian troops also intercepted a balloon-borne shipment on the southern border earlier in October. According to the Jordan News Agency (Petra), Southern Military Zone troops stopped a drug-smuggling attempt on October 12, 2026, after guided balloons crossed the frontier.
The troops brought the balloons down within Jordan and worked with the Anti-Narcotics Department to seize the contraband. That case shows that the use of balloons for smuggling on the southern border is not confined to the Karak incident.
An October 2026 policy report by the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy describes how balloon-based smuggling systems generally operate: GPS devices typically allow smugglers to locate payloads after they cross a border, while the balloons' limited radar signatures make them difficult for standard patrol systems to detect. The report does not address the Karak seizure.
Balloons and drones along the Syrian frontier
The New Lines Institute report also examines aerial smuggling along the Syria-Jordan border, a separate frontier from the southern route identified in the preliminary Karak investigation. It attributes approximately 87.5% of aerial Captagon interceptions there in 2025 to balloons and about 12.5% to drones. Aerostats can carry more than 200,000 pills, the report says, compared with roughly 4,000 for drones.
The report links the move from land routes to drones and GPS-tracked balloons to tighter Jordanian border enforcement. That included the adoption of "shoot to kill" rules of engagement after a Jordanian border guard captain was killed in January 2022.
Smuggling along the 375-kilometer Jordan-Syria border has long extended beyond Captagon, according to the institute. It also includes hashish, heroin, crystal methamphetamine, diverted goods and weapons, with smugglers sometimes carrying ammunition and explosives.
Roya News reported that Jordan's armed forces had handled 160 infiltration and smuggling attempts along the Syrian frontier since the start of 2026, citing an informed Jordanian source. The total comprised 22 infiltration operations and 138 operations involving drug and weapons smuggling. Seizures included explosives and weapons, as well as drones, GPS tracking devices and communications equipment.
Figures across Jordan's borders
Broader figures cited by AsiaNews cover Jordan's borders as a whole. On May 7, 2026, the Jordanian Armed Forces said they had thwarted 536 infiltration and smuggling attempts during 2025. Authorities seized 18.9 million narcotic pills, 251 kilograms of narcotic substances and 14,471 blocks of hashish that year, and shot down 89 drones.
For the first three months of 2026, AsiaNews cited 156 intercepted smuggling attempts, the seizure of 9.2 million Captagon pills and 26 drones brought down.
