Police officer critical after shootout in marijuana farm raid

AMMAN — Two police officers were injured, one critically, during a raid on a marijuana farm in Balqa Governorate at dawn on Tuesday, official sources said.

One police officer with the rank of corporal was shot in the thigh, reportedly by three men, during the raid, Public Security Department (PSD) Spokesperson Maj. Amer Sartawi said.

“The police officer is in critical condition because he lost a lot of blood,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

The second officer’s injury is minor, but he was still admitted to hospital, the PSD official added.

Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) and Special Forces agents conducted the raid after receiving a tip that a farm in Balqa, some 35km northwest of Amman, was cultivating marijuana for limited local consumption, Sartawi added.

“When our officers arrived at the scene they were met with live bullets coming from a house inside the farm, so they had to respond,” he explained, adding that the agents managed to control the situation and arrest three suspects.

Upon searching the premises, they found “two automatic weapons, a gun and a stash of marijuana”, according to Sartawi.

The State Security Court prosecution has been notified and will start questioning the suspects soon, the official added.