Nigerian drug dealer who was extradited from South Africa to the United States in 2019 was jailed Tuesday for over five years in prison.
Edwin Anyaoku, 54, was sentenced at the District Court of Eastern Virginia for trafficking more than 30 kilograms of heroin intended for importation into the United States.
According to court documents, Anyaoku was a heroin trafficker residing in Johannesburg, South Africa, who fell for an undercover trap for drug transactions.
In December 2017, a law enforcement confidential source negotiated to buy one kilogram of heroin from him for $15,000.
The one kilogram, however, was merely a test run for a larger load. In June 2018, Anyaoku negotiated another deal with the undercover source, this time for a load of 29 kilograms of heroin, at a cost of $14,000 per kilogram.
“Anyaoku understood that the heroin would be sold in New York for more than $60,000 per kilogram,” US Department of Justice said in a statement.
Upon arriving at a Johannesburg hotel with one of his associates to deliver the 29 kilograms of heroin concealed in a duffel bag, Anyaoku was arrested by South African authorities and detained.
He was subsequently extradited to the US for prosecution and jailed a year later.