USAfricaonline.com
is listed among the world's hot sites by the international newspaper,
USAToday.
HOW DRUG
DEALERS IN NIGERIA
TURNED A 12-YEAR OLD NIGERIAN-AMERICAN KID INTO A COURIER WHO
SWALLOWED 87 CONDOMS FILLED WITH HEROINE
The sad story of how Prince
Nnaedozie Umegbolu, a 12-year old Nigerian-American kid was made to
swallow 87 condoms filled with heroin from Lagos to New York. His
Georgia-based African-American mother Alissa Walden
says her son was made to work as a mule
for Nigerian drug dealers because he was desperate to return to the
United States. The boy's father, Chukwunweike Umegbolu,
40, of Atlanta, has served seven years of a 10-year sentence for his
role in a heroin ring that trafficked more than $33 million into
Atlanta.
Special to USAfricaonline.com
USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston
NigeriaCentral.com
The
Black Business Journal
April 12, 2002: The mother of the 12-year-old boy who swallowed 87
condoms filled with heroin to smuggle to New York said her son worked
as a mule for Nigerian drug dealers because he was desperate to
return to the United States.
Alissa Walden (an African-American), who lives outside Atlanta,
said she sent her son Prince Nnaedozie Umegbolu two years ago to the
Nigerian town of Abuja so he could be with his paternal grandparents
and go to school.
Walden said the boy, born in Georgia, hated life in Nigeria but
that she didn't have the money to pay for him to come home to
Norcross, Georgia. "I talked to him on the phone and he said he was
wanting to come home," said Walden, who was making the drive from
Georiga to New York Friday to see him.
"He told me 'Mom, I want to be reunited with my family.' But I
didn't have the money to get him."
Walden said that after speaking with her son Friday by phone she
learned he took matters into his own hands after meeting Nigerian
dealers only too willing to exploit the youngster.
In the call to her son at New York Hospital Medical Center of
Queens in Flushing, Walden said Prince told her that drug dealers in
Lagos, Nigeria, told him they would help him go home if he delivered
the drugs to Brooklyn.
The boy would later tell authorities he was given $1,900 and put
on a flight, alone and without luggage, from Lagos to London that
connected with British Airways Flight 179 to Kennedy.
After 16 hours of traveling, he arrived in New York around 10:30
p.m. Wednesday. With about four ounces of heroin in his belly, the
boy walked unimpeded to the Kennedy taxi stand. By 11 p.m. he was in
the back seat of driver Ronald Manning's cab. Reading from a piece of
folded paper, he directed the cabbie to an address in East Flatbush.
When they got to the address they found the apartment where he was
supposed to meet his connection didn't exist. Manning helped the boy
call Nigeria and the boy was directed to go to LaGuardia Airport,
where, he was told, a woman would meet him to take him to his
mother.
The cabbie stopped at a restaurant so the boy could go to the
bathroom, where he passed about 40 of the condoms. Retrieving the
drugs from the toilet, the boy placed them in a tube sock.
Manning told Newsday that there was no one waiting for the boy at
LaGuardia so the cabbie asked two police officers what he should do
with the boy and was directed to the Port Authority police
station.
On the way, the boy admitted he was smuggling drugs and started to
cry, telling Manning, "All I wanted to do was come to the States. All
I want to do is see my mom."
Around 2:20 a.m., police whisked him to the hospital. Walden said
she called her son's grandparents in Nigeria and they told her that
he had left a note that did not say where he was going and had taken
his passport.
They knew nothing of his smuggling plan, she said. Walden said she
only knew that her son was coming here when she got a call from
authorities Thursday. Deborah Seidenberg, chief of the Family Court
division for the city corporation counsel, said the boy's case has
not yet been referred to the Law Department by the Probation
Department, which prosecutes crimes by juveniles.
He faces charges of juvenile delinquency &emdash; possession of a
controlled dangerous substance. When the boy is released from the
hospital, where he was listed in stable condition Friday night, he'll
probably be lodged by the Department of Juvenile Justice.
Steve Coleman, spokesman for the Port Authority, said both Walden
and her son "have been very cooperative."
He said Port Authority police will work with federal agents to
track down the Nigerian drug sources.The boy's father, Chukwunweike
Umegbolu, 40, of Atlanta, has served seven years of a 10-year
sentence for his role in a heroin ring that trafficked more than $33
million into Atlanta.
Walden said she divorced Umegblou two years before he went to
prison, when the boy was three.
Special report by Sean Gardiner and Herb
Lowe of New York Newsday and Joshua B. Goode of the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution. Copyright © 2002, Newsday,
Inc.
|
APPRECIATION
A young
father writes his One
year old son:
"If only my heart had a voice...."
DEMOCRACY
DEBATE
CNN
International debate o n
Nigeria's democracy livecast on February 19, 2002. It
involved Nigeria's Information Minister Prof. Jerry Gana,
Prof. Salih Booker and USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido
Nwangwu. Transcripts
are available on
the CNN International site.
How Obasanjo's
self-succession
charade
at his Ota Farm has
turned Nigeria to an 'Animal
Farm.' By
USAfricaonline.com contributor Prof. Mobolaji
Aluko
Obasanjo's late wake to the Sharia crises,
Court's
decision and Nigeria's democracy. By Ken Okorie
Obasanjo's
own challenge is to imbibe "democratic spirit and
practice," By Prof. Ibiyinka Solarin
Is Obasanjo really
up to
Nigeria's
challenge and crises?
By USAfrica
The Newspaper editorial board member, attorney Ken Okorie.
This commentary appears courtesy of our related web
site, NigeriaCentral.com
Obasanjo's late wake to the Sharia crises,
Court's
decision and Nigeria's democracy. By Ken Okorie
Sharia-related
killings and carnage in Kaduna reenact deadly prologue to
Nigeria-Biafra
war
of 1967. By
Chido Nwangwu.
Jonas Savimbi, UNITA are
"terrorists"
in Africans' eyes
despite Washington's "freedom fighter" toga for him. By
SHANA WILLS
Nelson
Mandela, Tribute to the
world's political superstar and Lion of
Africa
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's
burden
mounts with murder charges, trials
  TRIBUTE
A KING FOR
ALL TIMES:
Why Martin Luther King's
legacy
and vision are relevant into 21st century.
DIPLOMACY
Walter
Carrington:
African-American diplomat who put principles above self for
Nigeria  (USAfrica's
founder Chido Nwangwu with Ambassador Carrington at the U.S.
embassy, Nigeria)
DEMOCRACY'S
WARRIOR
Out of
Africa.
…The
cock that crows in the morning belongs to one household but
his voice is the property of the neighborhood. -- Chinua
Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah. An editor carries on
his crusade against public corruption and press
censorship
in his native Nigeria and other African countries. By
John Suval.
ARINZE: Will he be
the FIRST
BLACK AFRICAN
POPE?
By Chido
Nwangwu
HUMAN
RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY
How far, how deep will Nigeria's human rights
commission go?
Rtd. Gen. Babangida trip as
emissary for Nigeria's Obasanjo to Sudan raises curiosity,
questions about what next in power
play?
110 minutes
with Hakeem Olajuwon
Nigerian
stabbed
to death
in his bathroom in Houston.
Cheryl
Mills' first class defense of Clinton and her detractors'
game
It's wrong
to stereotype Nigerians as Drug
Dealers
Private initiative,
free
market forces, and more
democratization
are Keys to prosperity in Africa
Apple announces Titanium,
"killer
apps" and other
ground-breaking products for 2001. iTunes makes a record
500,000 downloads.
Steve Jobs extends digital
magic
Since 1958, Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" set a standard
of artistic excellence,
and more. By Douglas Killam
Johnnie Cochran
will soon learn that defending Abacha's
loot is not as simple as his O.J Simpson's
case.
By Chido
Nwangwu
USAfrica The
Newspaper voted the "Best Community
Newspaper"
in the 4th largest city in the U.S., Houston. It is in
the Best of Houston 2001 special as chosen by the editors
and readers of the Houston
Press,
reflecting their poll and annual rankings.
|
 Africa
suffers the scourge of the virus.
This life and pain of Kgomotso Mahlangu, a
five-month-old AIDS patient (above) in a hospital in the
Kalafong township near Pretoria, South Africa, on October
26, 1999, brings a certain, frightening reality to the
sweeping and devastating destruction of human beings who
form the core of any definition of a country's future, its
national security, actual and potential economic development
and internal markets.
22 million Africans HIV-infected, ill
with AIDS
while African leaders
ignore disaster-in-waiting
Why Bush should focus on dangers
facing Nigeria's return
to democracy
and Obasanjo's slipperyslide. By Chido
Nwangwu
NEWS
5 students from Nigeria at Abilene Christian
University killed in March 31, 2002 one-car
accident.18 year-old Kolawole Oluwagbemiga Sami
was identified as the driver of the Isuzu which had 2 other
men and 3 women. One of those female passengers in the 1994
Isuzu Rodeo SUV had an identification card stating her as
Iyadunni Oluwaseun Bakare. She is also 18 years old.
USAfricaonline.com special report by Chido Nwangwu
Why Chinua
Achebe,
the Eagle on the Iroko,
is Africa's writer of the century. By Chido
Nwangwu
Osama
bin-Laden's goons threaten Nigeria and Africa's
stability. By Chido Nwangwu
Tragedy of Ige's murder
is its déjà vu for the Yoruba
southwest and rest of
Nigeria. By Ken Okorie
What has Africa
to do with September 11 terror? By Chido Nwangwu
Should Africa debates begin and
end at
The
New York Times and
The
Washington Post?
No
NEWS INSIGHT
CNN,
Obasanjo and Nigeria's struggles with democracy.
Why Obasanjo's government should respect
CNN
and Freedom of the press
in Nigeria.
Jonas Savimbi, UNITA are
"terrorists"
in Africans' eyes
despite Washington's "freedom fighter" toga for him. By
SHANA WILLS
Lifestyle
Sex,
Women and (Hu)Woman
Rights. By Chika Unigwe
What
has Africa
to do with September 11 terror? By Chido
Nwangwu
Africans
reported
dead
in terrorist
attack at
WTC
September
11
terror and
the ghost of things to
come....
Will
religious conflicts be the time-bomb
for Nigeria's latest transition to civilian rule?
Bola
Ige's murder another danger signal for
Nigeria's nascent democracy.
In a special report a few hours after the
history-making nomination, USAfricaonline.com
Founder and Publisher Chido Nwangwu places Powell within the
trajectory of history and into his unfolding clout and
relevance in an essay titled 'Why Colin
Powell
brings gravitas, credibility and star power to Bush
presidency.'
AFRICA
AND THE U.S. ELECTIONS
Beyond U.S.
electoral shenanigans, rewards and dynamics of a democratic
republic hold
lessons
for
African politics.
CONTINENTAL
AGENDA
Bush's position on
Africa
is "ill-advised."
The position
stated by Republican presidential aspirant and Governor of
Texas, George Bush where  he
said that "Africa will not be an area of priority" in his
presidency has been questioned by
USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido
Nwangwu. He added that Bush's "pre-election position was
neither validated by the economic exchanges nor
geo-strategic interests of our two continents."
These views were
stated during an interview CNN's anchor Bernard Shaw and
senior analyst Jeff Greenfield had with Mr. Nwangwu on
Saturday November 18, 2000 during a special edition of
'Inside Politics 2000.'
Nwangwu,
adviser to the Mayor of Houston (the 4th largest city in the
U.S., and immigrant home to thousands of Africans) argued
further that "the issues of the heritage interests of 35
million African-Americans in Africa, the volume and value of
oil business between between the U.S and Nigeria and the
horrendous AIDS crisis in Africa do not lend any basis for
Governor Bush's ill-advised
position which
removes Africa from fair consideration" were he to be
elected president.
By Al Johnson
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