Nigerian drug suspect extradited to South Korea

(SomaliNet) Justice ministry said a Nigerian man who allegedly used South Korean nationals to smuggle drugs abroad has been extradited from China to face charges in Seoul.

Nigeria’s Obioha Frank Chinedu, 41, is accused of convincing unwitting South Korean travellers, mainly women, to carry cocaine and hemp into Europe and Japan by offering to pay their travel expenses.

Twelve South Koreans - 10 women and two men - have served jail time in Brazil, Britain, Japan and the Netherlands for drug smuggling. They claimed not to know what was in the bags they were given to carry.

Chinedu left South Korea after prosecutors launched an investigation in 2002.

He was arrested the following year in Germany for drug possession and extradited to Denmark, where another smuggling case had emerged involving a South Korean national.

Chinedu escaped while awaiting trial in 2004 but resurfaced in China, where he was detained at South Korea\'s request in 2007.-AFP