Authorities in the Syrian Arab Republic have seized 142,000 captagon pills that were intended to be smuggled into Jordan. The Interior Ministry said the drugs were intercepted near the southern border before reaching their destination.

According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, smugglers used balloons fitted with global positioning tracking devices and remote control technology to move the narcotics across the border. Officials said criminal networks have increasingly turned to such methods to bypass security measures.

Jordan has long been used as a transit route for drugs moving from Syria, Lebanon and Iraq toward Gulf countries. In response to rising smuggling attempts, Jordanian forces have carried out airstrikes targeting suspected drug and weapons warehouses in southern Syria.