Jordan shuts down illegal drug factory

AMMAN, Jordan – Police in Jordan say they’ve shut down a large factory making an illegal amphetamine-based drug said to be popular in the Middle East, including among Syrian militants.

Authorities seized enough material to make more than 100 million pills.

The official news agency Petra described the raid as a first for not only disrupting trafficking of pills, but also their production in the kingdom.

On Tuesday, the confiscated drugs and chemicals were on display at the anti-narcotics department in Jordan’s capital, Amman. Rows of plastic-wrapped cardboard boxes and bins filled with the drug-making materials were stacked floor to ceiling.

Police say a factory purportedly making cleaning materials in an industrial area of Amman had served as a front for manufacturing the pills. They say nine people were arrested.