Nigerian-run drug ring foiled, U.S. officials say

International cooperation cited

October 11, 1996
Web posted at: 2:15 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. law enforcement officials and their counterparts in several countries have broken up an international heroin-trafficking ring that was operated primarily by Nigerian women, Attorney General Janet Reno announced Friday.

The Justice Department said 34 people, mostly women, were arrested in Chicago, New York, Detroit, Thailand and Pakistan. (16 sec./378K AIFF or WAV sound)

The ring was a sophisticated operation that stretched from Southeast Asia to the streets of major U.S. cities, including Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee, Reno told reporters at a Justice Department news conference. (16 sec./414K AIFF or WAV sound)

She said more than 100 federal and local authorities dismantled the alleged scheme Friday morning.

"Because of today's success we captured the people ... who are the source of the heroin in Thailand, the people who transport it around the globe and the people who distribute it on our streets," she said.

Thomas Constantine, director of the Drug Enforcement Administration, called the ring "a graphic example of the new organized crime in the United States." (20 sec./443K AIFF or WAV sound)

The ring's leader, located in Bangkok, is "a substantial player in organized crime in this world in heroin trafficking," Constantine said.

Among those arrested in Chicago was Jumoke Kafayat Majekodunmi, known as "Kafi," a Nigeria-born woman who runs a Chicago clothing boutique, Constantine said.

From small-time to big-time

According to Constantine, the ring began 15 years ago when a group of Nigerian women began smuggling heroin in small amounts for organized crime groups. The operation since then has "progressed to the point where they are as powerful as any in the world," Constantine said.

He also said the ring directed heroin smuggling from Singapore, Bangkok and other Far East points to Amsterdam and Paris. The drugs were then shipped by boat to Central America and taken over land through Mexico and into the United States, he said.

The investigators' breakthrough came when "an alert customs official started the investigation in Boston," Constantine said. Almost simultaneously to the Boston action, a one- ounce undercover purchase of heroin in Milwaukee by federal agents helped fuel the investigation.

Prosecutors and agents then "were able to build a case in less than a year and were able to unravel the syndicate," he said.

Constantine added that the group uses the same secrecy and procedures followed by other organized-crime groups like the Mafia and Colombian drug lords.

Justice department officials also praised what they called unprecedented cooperation of law enforcement officials in Thailand, France, Britain and the United States.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related sites:

• United States Department of Justice
  • Drug Enforcement Administration

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