Airstrike kills major drug trafficker in Syria: War monitor

Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday (May 8) that a major drug smuggler was killed in an airstrike in southern Syria. The war monitor attributed the airstrike to Jordan which has neither confirmed nor denied this.

Drug dealer "Marai al-Ramthan, his wife and six children were killed in a Jordanian air force strike" in the eastern countryside of the Sweida province, near the Syrian-Jordanian border, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Ramthan is considered to be the most prominent drug trafficker in the region, and the number one smuggler of drugs, including captagon, into Jordan", said the Observatory, which relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria.

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Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi was asked about the airstrike by reporters.

"When we take any steps to protect our national security... we will announce them at the appropriate time," he said.

"Drugs... are a great threat to the kingdom, the region and the world as smuggling operations soar," Safadi said.

News agency AFP said that an investigation it carried out in November found that Syria has become a narco-state, with the $10 billion captagon industry dwarfing all other exports and funding both Assad and many of his enemies.

These narcotics are mainly smuggled to oil-rich Gulf countries, says AFP. But Jordan has also become a transit route for trade in the amphetamine-type stimulant.

An activist in Sweida province with knowledge of the local drug trade told AFP that "we expect to see a noticeable impact on smuggling operations from Sweida after the strike."

"No one could smuggle anything across the border without Ramthan's knowledge," he said, requesting anonymity for his own security.

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The activist reportedly added that since the airstrike took place, some traffickers in the area have fled their homes.

The rare attack comes on the heels of a May 1 meeting of several Arab foreign ministers in Amman in which Damascus had agreed to "enhance cooperation" with countries "affected by drug trafficking and smuggling across the Syrian border", a Jordanian foreign ministry statement said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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