CIA arms for Syria land in black market

Weapons shipped into Jordan for Syrian rebels by the CIA and Saudi Arabia were stolen by Jordanian intelligence operatives and sold to arms merchants on the black market, the New York Times reported, citing American and Jordanian officials.

Some of the stolen weapons were used in a shooting in November 2015. A Jordanian officer shot dead two US government security contractors, a South African trainer and two Jordanians at a US-funded police training facility near Amman before being killed. The weapons used in the shooting had originally arrived in Jordan for the Syrian rebel training program, the paper reported, citing American and Jordanian officials.

“The theft, involving millions of dollars of weapons, highlights the messy, unplanned consequences of programs to arm and train rebels — the kind of program the CIA and Pentagon have conducted for decades — even after the Obama administration had hoped to keep the training program in Jordan under tight control,” the article noted.

The theft and resale of the arms — including Kalashnikov assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades — have led to a flood of new weapons available on the black arms market.

The theft ended a few months ago after complaints by the American and Saudi governments.

Jordanian officers who were part of the plan “reaped a windfall” from sale of weapons, using the money to buy iPhones, SUVs and other luxury items.

The head of the powerful Jordanian intelligence service, known as the General Intelligence Directorate, is considered the second most important man after the king.