FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1996 (202) 616-2777
TDD (202) 514-1888
U.S. LAW ENFORCEMENT DISMANTLES INTERNATIONAL
HEROIN SMUGGLING RING RUN PREDOMINANTLY BY NIGERIAN WOMEN
Arrests Made in Bangkok, Pakistan, Chicago, New York, Detroit
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Federal, state and local law
enforcement officials today began executing search warrants and
arresting members of an alleged heroin smuggling and distribution
ring run predominantly by Nigerian women, dismantling a network
that stretched from the opium fields of Southeast Asia to the
streets of America. The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task
Force operation, code-named "Global Sea," disrupted the Nigerian-run narcotics network and relied on the unprecedented cooperation
of law enforcement in Thailand, France and Great Britain.
Since 1995, Global Sea investigators have seized
more than $26 million in heroin and charged 44 individuals with
drug-related offenses in the U.S. and abroad, including those made
public today. Thirty one of the individuals were charged in
documents made public today in Chicago and Boston. Thirty four of
the defendants were arrested this morning in Bangkok, Chicago, New
York, Detroit and Pakistan. Two of the defendants charged today
were arrested in June in Paris. The 13 others previously charged
have been arrested in connection with the Chicago case since May
1995 in Texas, New Mexico, Thailand, Switzerland, Mexico and the
Netherlands.
"The message is clear--don't bring drugs into this
country and sell them on our streets, especially to our children,"
said Attorney General Janet Reno. "If you do, we will find
you, arrest you and prosecute you."
In August 1995, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S.
Customs Service working together in Milwaukee with the U.S.
Attorney's Office conducted an investigation involving two
undercover buys of one ounce of heroin. Investigators were then
able to identify a telephone number in Chicago used by the
traffickers. In February, investigators set up the first of a
series of court-authorized wiretaps in Chicago that have
intercepted more than 25,000 telephone calls.
To date, approximately 55.5 kilograms of heroin have been
seized in connection with the operation. Authorities said the
heroin has a wholesale value of between $150,000 and $200,000 a
kilogram and a retail value of more than $500,000 per kilo--a total
retail value of more than $26 million. The seized heroin in this
case was, on average, approximately 80 percent pure. While
markets such as Boston report street level sales at that purity
level, other areas report street purity levels as low as three
percent.
According to allegations in the complaints filed in
Chicago, the network sought to import multi-kilogram quantities of
heroin from spots in Thailand and Cambodia through international
transit routes used by couriers.
Couriers allegedly traveled to Thailand to pick up heroin
and were joined by "controllers" -- individuals who
accompanied them to ensure that they reached their destination.
Then they took flights through Europe to Guatemala, and, from
there, made their way through Mexico and across the U.S. border.
According to the complaint, they then transported the heroin from
Texas to Chicago, where it was re-sold in 100 gram quantities. The
cash receipts were hand-carried or wire transferred back to
Southeast Asia.
"This investigation underscores the seamless continuum of
international organized crime," said Thomas A. Constantine,
Administrator of the DEA. "Today's arrests immobilized an
important international Nigerian syndicate, based in Bangkok, which
smuggled heroin through Europe and Mexico and distributed it to
street gangs in the Midwest. It also demonstrates that Nigerian
criminal organizations are no longer just couriers but have
developed into major heroin traffickers in their own right."
Among those charged were key conspiracy figures Musiliu
Balogun and Anthony Smith. Smith was arrested today in Bangkok.
Musiliu Balogun remains at large. Other key figures charged in
Chicago complaint were Kafayat Adedolapo Windokun and Oluwaseun
Balogun. Windokun was arrested in Chicago after arriving on a
flight from London earlier this week. A key figure on the
distribution end, Jumoke Kafayat Majekodunmi, a Nigerian woman, was
arrested today in Chicago.
Musiliu Balogun, also known as "Olopa" and its
English equivalent, "The Policeman," and Smith, also known
as "Baba Cambo," were identified in the Chicago complaint as
the suppliers of the heroin in Thailand and Cambodia. Majekodunmi,
also known as "Kafi," who owns a women's clothing boutique
in Chicago that allegedly was used in the heroin trafficking
business, was identified in the complaint as the key distributor of
the heroin in the United States.
According to charges, Kafi spoke with co-conspirators
about the loss of $150,000 in heroin proceeds from luggage in
Singapore and the arrest of two British couriers. The two were
arrested in Paris when authorities seized four kilograms of heroin
that was destined for Kafi.
- Other defendants are charged with:
- Assisting Kafi in wire transferring drug money overseas,
making calls and taking messages on her behalf and
distributing heroin;
- Selling heroin to other heroin dealers and transporting
purchase money to suppliers in Thailand; and,
- Smuggling heroin across international borders.
Treasury Undersecretary for Enforcement Raymond Kelly
said, "These drug dealers went to great lengths to smuggle drugs
into this country. We went even further."
In Boston, an indictment was unsealed today charging five
individuals--two Chicago-based couriers and three of their sources
in Thailand--with conspiring to import heroin. All five have been
arrested. The two couriers charged are Ade Odoffin, also known as
Tony, and a John Doe 3, known as Kevin Reed. The Thailand sources
charged are Albertine Kilumdu, also known as Tina, John Doe 1,
known as Ellis Ola Giwa, and John Doe 2.
This is the third wave of prosecutions in Boston of a
heroin distribution organization as a whole--from the sources of
the heroin to the couriers who imported the narcotics.
This prosecution is significant because it marks an
unprecedented level of international law enforcement cooperation.
For the first time ever, in the Boston case, Royal Thai Police
allowed U.S. law enforcement authorities to transport drugs out of
Thailand to assist an ongoing international investigation.
In the Boston case, an undercover DEA agent posed as an
international courier for the Laverne Cotton-Diaby organization--the Boston-based leader of the conspiracy. Cotton-Diaby's
Thailand-based sources provided the undercover agent with about
five kilograms of heroin for transport to the U.S. The heroin was
transported through secure law enforcement channels to Boston. At
the direction of Cotton-Diaby's Thailand sources, the heroin was
delivered to a courier who is associated with the Chicago-based
Nigerian heroin organization. Ade Odoffin delivered $82,000 to an
undercover DEA agent for the heroin, which was recovered by law
enforcement after the exchange.
"This is a sterling example of drug law enforcement work
at its best," said George Weise, Commissioner of the U.S.
Customs Service. "I applaud the work of the many men and women
whose skill and dedication have lead to this unprecedented
effort."
To date, 21 individuals have been charged in the Boston
prosecution, including two who were employed as Boston police
officers during the period of the heroin importing conspiracy.
Attorney General Reno hailed the coordinated efforts by
the U.S. Attorney's Offices in Chicago and Boston, the Department's
Criminal Division, the DEA, the FBI, the U.S. Customs Service, the
INS, the Secret Service, and at least 10 state and local police
agencies in the Chicago, Boston and Milwaukee area.
Reno also praised the Royal Thai Police/Nana Drug
Enforcement Unit and law enforcement authorities in England,
France, the Netherlands, and Singapore for their efforts.
She also commended prosecutors in U.S. Attorneys offices
in: the Eastern District of Wisconsin, the Southern District of
Texas, the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the Eastern
District of Michigan, the District of New Mexico and the District
of Minnesota.
The indictment and complaints contain only charges and
are not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent
and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the
burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
# # #
96-503