DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Syria on Wednesday said it had foiled an attempted drug smuggling operation that used balloons in Sweida province in the country’s south, destined for neighboring Jordan.

State news agency SANA quoted the drug enforcement department as saying that it “thwarted an attempt to smuggle a large shipment of narcotic substances” to Jordan “using balloons,” adding that “70 kilograms of hashish and 45,000 captagon tablets were seized.”

Images published by SANA showed what appeared to be small balloons, apparently filled and laid out flat in rows.

Synthetic stimulant captagon became Syria’s largest export after the civil war began in 2011, flooding the region and becoming a key source of illicit funding for now ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Syria’s new authorities who took power in December 2024 have been working to combat the captagon trade, while Damascus and Amman have committed to fighting drug smuggling on their border.

Parts of Druze-majority Sweida province, which borders Jordan, are controlled by Druze armed groups and are outside Damascus’ control.

In May, Syrian state TV reported Jordanian strikes on a drugs and weapons storage site in Sweida province.

Jordan had previously carried out strikes on southern Syria targeting drug-trafficking networks.