US sentences Nigerian drug trafficker to 30 years

A Nigerian man was sentenced in New York to 30 years in prison for conspiring to import $100 million of cocaine to the United States via Africa, federal prosecutors said. Chigbo Peter Umeh was sentenced Thursday after being found guilty in April of brokering the drug ring between producers in South America and distribution points in Africa. Part of the scheme, prosecutors in Manhattan said, involved attempts by Umeh to bribe high-ranking Liberian government officials to allow the country to serve as a shipment point. The cocaine was due to be shipped from Venezuela to Liberia and then to Ghana, before being flown to the United States for sale. However, two of his contacts were in fact working undercover with US anti-narcotics officials. "Umeh was the linchpin of a multi-million dollar narcotics distribution conspiracy between South America, West Africa and ultimately, the rest of the world. He thought he could use officials in the Liberian government to assist with his operations, but he was sorely mistaken," US Attorney Preet Bharara said. Bharara said breaking the plot "would not have been possible without the courage and cooperation of the government of Liberia and the DEA agents who conceived of and then executed this bold undercover operation."