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Posted by
Gold_12th
on Thu Apr 24 14:32:03 2014
edf40wrjww2msgDetailB:detailStr fiogf49gjkf0d An on-duty city bus driver was busted after picking up a heroin smuggler carrying $3 million worth of dope from Africa on his Bx2 bus route in a pre-arranged rendezvous on the Grand Concourse, the Daily News has learned.
The driver, Francis Abankwa, was nabbed by federal agents after the last passenger got off his bus and he and the smuggler finished the journey at the Kingsbridge Depot in Inwood, according to court papers.
Abankwa did not know that the smuggler, Boubacar Traore, had been caught with heroin in his luggage earlier in the day at Kennedy Airport and had agreed to cooperate with Homeland Security agents, according to court papers.
The shocking tale that would have Ralph Kramden bellowing, “You are a blabbermouth!” began around 11 a.m. April 17 when Traore arrived in the city on a British Airways flight from London that originated in Tanzania, according to court papers.
Customs and Border Protection officers spotted an unclaimed Samsonite roller bag in the baggage carousel and traced the ticket to Traore, a father of seven who operates a grocery shop in Ghana.
While Traore sputtered that he had forgotten to pick up the bag, officers probed the side of the bag and found it was loaded with heroin, the court papers allege.
Traore flipped like a cheap suit and agreed to carry out the delivery under the supervision of federal agents, according to the papers.
Calling a cell phone number he had been provided by a drug trafficker in Ghana, Traore spoke to Abankwa who allegedly set up a meeting at a bus stop on the Grand Concourse and East Tremont Ave.
Traore was waiting when Abankwa rolled up in his city bus.
“While on the bus, Traore and Abankwa…discussed in sum and substance narcotics trafficking," according to the complaint filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Traore rode the bus all the way to the depot with Abankwa where they were both arrested.
Federal prosecutors agreed to Traore’s release on $100,000 bail. Abankwa, 50, remains held at the Metropolitan Detention Center. He faces at least 10 years in prison if convicted.
Abankwa has worked for the MTA for eight years and earned $102,000 in 2012, including overtime.
Neighbors at his Bronx apartment building said Abankwa lives alone and his wife and children are in Africa.
One of Abankwa’s co-workers said he was surprised by the charges.
“He’s always been a respectful person. Pleasant. He was friendly with everyone.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/on-duty-mta-bus-driver-busted-heroin-trafficking-article-1.1767383#ixzz2zpR3x0HM
A Queens man convicted of trying to kill his young daughter in 2011 was sentenced Thursday in Nassau County Court to 16 years in an attempted murder-suicide.
Khemchan Sulaiman and his daughter were both found unconscious and in respiratory distress in a car behind a shopping mall in Lawrence in October 2011.
Investigators believe the child, Priya Sulaiman, then 2 years old, ingested ammonium chloride, a compound commonly found in fire extinguishers, from a baby bottle found in the car.
That substance and a pesticide that can cause convulsions, seizures and respiratory distress were both found in the Toyota Venza. A passerby found the two.
Khemchan Sulaiman, who had worked as an MTA bus maintainer, declined to address Supervising Nassau County Court Judge Christopher Quinn on Thursday.
Quinn also granted a request for an order of protection on behalf of the mother and the child.
Police said a bitter separation with the girl's mother may have been a motive.
Sulaiman pleaded guilty in March to second-degree attempted murder, assault and aggravated criminal contempt charges.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/khemchan-sulaiman-sentenced-to-16-years-for-trying-to-kill-young-daughter-1.7813444?qr=1
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