Jordan has foiled a plot to smuggle arms, drugs and “terrorists” through a disused oil pipeline along its border with Syria.

:: Jordan’s army said Saturday it has foiled a plot to smuggle arms, drugs and “terrorists” through a disused oil pipeline along its border with Syria.

“The Jordanian armed forces were able… to thwart a plan to smuggle weapons, drugs and terrorists” through the pipeline, an official in the general command said in a statement.

“A group of terrorists and drug traffickers” had used a house near the Jordan-Syria border and the disused Trans-Arabian Pipeline (Tapline) to “dig and prepare a series of tunnels for use in smuggling operations and to carry out terrorist attacks”, the official said.

Authorities have ordered the destruction of the tunnels and instructed army engineering units to unearth the pipeline to prevent other “smugglers and terrorists” from using it.