Desperation leads Syrian man to shoot himself

Manama: A 50-year-old Syrian has killed himself after losing around $250 million in financial transactions, the Syrian News Agency (SANA) said on Saturday.

Ahmad Adel Showeihna shot himself with a pistol in his home after he left a written note and recorded a message on his mobile explaining that he had become totally desperate.

In his messages, he explained that he had been dealing in gold and foreign currency with agents who, he later discovered, were not licenced and took huge fees for their services, and caused him to lose around $250 million in four years.

The man said that he could no longer bear the material losses and the moral shame before his family and society who had considered him a highly successful businessman in Aleppo.

SANA said that Ahmad had a heart surgery and that he later refused to see his friends or members of his family.