There And Back On Time - Season 1 - Episode 47

5 years ago

There And Back On Time - Season 1 - Episode 47

Rich Boy

Germany Dilemma
By March 2003, I had saved up a lot of
money. I became afraid that something could
happen to it, so I went to Berlin with my
master Johnson to buy vehicles and ship to
Nigeria.

I purchased 2 mercedes 190, A Honda civic, a
V-boot Mercedes and one L-300 mitsubishi
bus.

I removed the headlamps and other items
that could be stolen. I put them inside the bus
and loaded it up with some other articles
such as engines and used TVs.

We drove them to a shipping yard that
belonged to a man called Jude Owa, a man
from somewhere in Delta state Nigeria.

We paid up for the shipment and went into
the Berlin city center.

There was a Nigerian joint in Flughafen
strasse. (strasse means street) a man from
Onitsha was the owner of the joint, his name
was Akunne.

It was located in the TempelHof Area of Berlin.
There were many Nigerians drinking and
eating when we came to eat. Somehow, news
that an unknown Nigerian guy had come into
Berlin and purchased 5 vehicles had reached
the Akunne joint ahead of us. People were
heard talking about the guy who purchased
the vehicles.

Some said they knew him, some said he was
their friend and that they had gone to night
clubs with me.

Unknown to them, the guy who bought the
vehicles was sitting right there with them
eating semo and Egusi soup.
When we finished eating, Johnson, being a
more reserved person said it was time to go
back to Brandenburg.

A part of me wanted to stay back in Berlin
and drink more and even buy drinks for the
Nigerian guys there. The way some of them
were begging for food told me that they were
hungry and poor.

I told Johnson to go back alone. We were
supposed to buy some weeds before going
back. I told him I would buy them when
returning in the evening.

When Johnson left, I bought a bottle of Jack
Daniel whiskey which cost about 30 euros then
and sat in one corner. I placed the whiskey in
front of me and drank alone. About 20
Minutes later, Jude Owa, the owner of the
shipping yard came there to eat.

As soon as he saw me, he walked straight to
me and shook my hand. He said I was the
first Nigerian who brought vehicles and paid
for the shipment instantly.
We talked and he said the vehicles would be
in Cotonou before three weeks.

People started picking interest and before I
knew it, every Nigerian at the joint was
shaking my hands. The hands that had
purchased 5 vehicles at once. They were
surprised, especially Akunne that a guy my
age could pull such fit.

Some of them, got glasses and joined me to
drink whiskey. We finished it up and I bought
more. Some didn’t drink strong spirits, so
they took beer. Some said they had not eaten
since morning, so they took food. By the time
I spent two hours at the joint, I had also
spent over 400 euros. One of them had given
me a name; Ozoigbondu.

* The name still rings bell in Berlin up till this
moment. If you ever venture into berlin and
go to joints such as the Akunne, the Ofotos,
the Emmy Ojos etc, just ask of Ozoigbondu
and they will give you food for free*
I became the toast of the joint. The ambitious
ones wasted no time in asking me what I did
for a living. Some wanted to know where I
came from or where I lived. Some asked for
my phone number etc.

it was a thursday, so I promised them that I
would be in town again on saturday
afternoon so that we would go to a night
club.

I took my bag from Akunne and exited the
joint through the back door.

I went to Tony, my supplier and bought a kilo
of weeds and two kilos of Hashes and went
back to Brandenburg.

I usually hid my goods inside the forest near
the silokanal of Brandenburg. (silokanal was
a man-made river behind our HEIM).
But that night, I had taken too much alcohol in
Berlin. I wasn’t in a good state of mind to
hide the goods that night.

I just divided the goods and gave Johnson his
own, then I took my own to my room and hid
it inside my sofa. I had used knife to cut open
the sofa through its handrest and made a
hole in it. I used to hide small goods,
especially the ones I couldn’t sell for the day
in it but that night, I had just bought large
quantity. I put the drugs inside the hole in the
sofa and left it there.

One other reason why I decided not to go to
the bush while I was drunk was that I couldn’t be careful enough. If anybody saw me hiding
the goods, the person would steal it. Some
german weed heads usualy patrol along the
Area in the night looking for drugs to steal.

There was another Yoruba guy Bola who had
been posted to our HEIM in December. He
was a thief and had followed some people
into the bush in the night to know where they
hid their goods. Then he would steal them
when the owners left.

I couldn’t risk Bola following me into the bush that night, so I decided to hid them in my
room.

Unfortunately for me, around 4am the
following morning, the German Police invaded
Brandenburg HEIM.
The drugs were discovered…