Jordan arrests 16 in plots targeting national security

AMMAN, Jordan

Jordan’s General Intelligence Directorate said Tuesday that it arrested 16 people involved in plots targeting national security.

In a statement, the intelligence agency said the schemes aimed at destabilizing the kingdom through chaos and material destruction.

The agency revealed that the plots were under surveillance since 2021, and led to the discovery of explosives, firearms, a concealed rocket ready for use, and drone blueprints.

Authorities also uncovered recruitment and training efforts to establish operational networks both inside and outside Jordan.

All cases have been referred to the State Security Court for legal action.

Government spokesman Mohammad Al-Momani explained that the plots comprised four main cases involving 16 individuals operating in separate groups.

He said a cell of three was arrested between May and June 2023 for smuggling and storing high-grade explosives (TNT, C4, SEMTEX-H) and automatic weapons from abroad.

A fourth suspect, operating independently, hid a ready-to-use Katyusha rocket in Amman’s Marj Al-Hamam area, he added.

The spokesman said three suspects were also detained this February for producing rockets with local and imported materials.

The suspects established fortified warehouses in Zarqa and Amman, including a concrete-reinforced site with secret rooms, and received foreign training and funding to build a prototype, he added.

Four more people were arrested after traveling abroad for expertise and building a drone prototype from raw materials, Momani noted.

The government spokesman said authorities also arrested five more suspects in two groups, some trained abroad, for recruiting and training operatives in illegal security courses.

He described the announced details as “only a fraction” of complex schemes thwarted by security forces. A televised report with footage of missile production sites, tools, and suspect activities, along with confessions, was set to air Tuesday evening.

Momani said the suspects had political affiliations with an unlicensed, dissolved group, declining to name it, and promised the public would hear from them via the video.

Jordan had previously thwarted multiple plots aimed at its security, including a May 2024 operation that foiled an arms smuggling attempt by a cell linked to militias backed by an unnamed country.