Amman, 15 July (AKI) - Jordanian border guards have blocked an attempt to smuggle a limousine belonging to toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from Iraq through Jordan and then onto the United States. The black Mercedes-Benz S600 was stopped at a Iraqi-Jordanian border crossing and its occupants, several Iraqi nationals, were arrested, the deputy director of Jordanian customs, Khalf al-Hazima told the Jordanian daily al-Rai on Friday.

Authorities believe the car was stolen from one of Saddam Hussein's numerous palaces in Iraq in the aftermath of the US-led invasion in 2003.

According to al-Hazima, the incident is the latest of many attempts to smuggle into Jordan valuables pillaged from Saddam's palaces.