Nigerian senator-elect wanted
for US drug deal 'arrested'
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LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- Nigerian drug agents
Saturday surrounded the house of a senator-
elect wanted by the United States in a nearly 20-
year-old heroin deal that was the alleged basis
for the TV hit "Orange is the New Black."
Buruji Kashamu is under house arrest, according
to the chairman of Nigeria's National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency, Ahmadu Giade.
But Kashamu's spokesman, Austin
Oniyokor, said, "He has not been
arrested but there is a siege to his house
and an attempt to forcibly take him." He
said the agents did not have an arrest
warrant.
Giade said Kashamu, 56, will appear in a
federal high court Monday to start
extradition proceedings to the United
States.
He said agents raided Kashamu's home in
Lagos at around 5 a.m., before dawn
Saturday. Armed agents were seen
surrounding the property Saturday night.
Kashamu has already been suing a
Nigerian court to prevent attempts to extradite
him.
He had become a powerful politician and
financier of President Goodluck Jonathan's
party. Jonathan lost the March elections but
Kashamu was elected a senator in balloting
opponents said was rigged.
A Chicago grand jury in 1998 indicted Kashamu
for conspiracy to import and distribute heroin
in the U.S. Kashamu has said it is a case of
mistaken identity and that prosecutors really
want the dead brother he closely resembles.
He said Saturday's development was a political
conspiracy, according to his spokesman.
"This latest onslaught is a confirmation of the
alleged plot to illegally abduct him in spite of
the pending suit against this illegality," Oniyokor
said.
It was not clear when the United States filed an
extradition request, but the Nigerian drug
agency's spokesman, Ofoyeju Mitchell, said a
U.S. extradition request was the reason for
Saturday's action.
The move comes days before Jonathan is to step
down. President-elect Muhammadu Buhari takes
office Friday.
The U.S. had failed to ask Nigeria to extradite
Kashamu before now. In September, Chicago
Judge Richard Posner refused a motion to
dismiss Kashamu's case and quoted the U.S.
Justice Department as saying that "the prospects
for extradition have recently improved." Posner
also noted that "given Kashamu's prominence ...
the probability of extradition may actually be
low."
A previous request to extradite him from
Britain failed in 2003. Kashamu spent five years
in a British jail before he was freed over
uncertainty about his identity. He was carrying
$230,000 when he was arrested there.
A dozen people long ago pleaded guilty in the
case including American Piper Kerman, whose
memoir was adapted for the Netflix hit "Orange
Is The New Black." Kerman's book never
identified Kashamu by name, only citing a West
African drug kingpin.
Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
has chastised Jonathan for his perceived
protection of Kashamu and warned that "drug
barons ... will buy candidates, parties and
eventually buy power or be in power
themselves."
Kashamu has said that Obasanjo did not call him
a drug baron when they were allies and while he
spent some $20 million ensuring their party's
success at 2011 elections.