This is my story on how I was lured into smuggling dangerous drugs into Hong Kong.
I am a father of three children (two boys and a girl), married to a beautiful wife who suffers from dementia. I have been living in Nairobi, hustling here and there to make ends meet. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I lost my job. Even though I didn’t earn much, it did help me pay for my children’s school fees, house rent, and daily living. My wife is a “housewife” who suffers from dementia from time to time. I was also taking care of my younger brother who was suffering from meningitis and his medication proved to be costly.
No matter how hard I tried to hustle, expenses were adding up, especially my brother’s medication. This was a big burden for me and I was slowly losing focus and became mentally drained.
At times, I would borrow my friend’s car and hustle as a taxi driver. This is how I met a man from Nigeria. He would pay me handsomely to chauffeur him around Nairobi, in different suburbs of the city. He was secretive about his dealings and I never bothered to ask him about his full name. He always asked me to wait inside the car. He would pay me an extra amount than the agreed taxi fare and this trapped me into not bothering him about his movements.
He proved to be wealthy and connected, at first I was afraid, but I looked back at my hustling life… and that’s when I made a choice, a very desperate choice that altered my life and the lives of those whom I care for most.
One day during our small talks, I gathered the courage to ask him if he could connect me to a better-paying job. As you may know, getting a job in the city, with or without a good educational background, proves a major challenge, and most of the time if you’re lucky, it requires connections through individuals. He promised to connect me to his friend in Hong Kong who had a car shipping company, but first, I had to do him a favor in return. I didn’t know what it was until he had all my papers prepared for the journey to Hong Kong.
On the eve of traveling, he locked me in a secluded house in a suburb of Nairobi and asked me to swallow small pellets wrapped in plastic. I didn’t know what it was but he called it his “secret stuff” and told me it wouldn’t hurt in any way. He proved to be wealthy and connected, at first I was afraid, but I looked back at my hustling life and my ailing brother who needed much medication more than ever, and that’s when I made a choice, a very desperate choice that altered my life and the lives of those whom I care for most.
I’m a man who got trapped by the grip of poverty, and desperation to help my ailing brother. Sadly, my brother succumbed to meningitis and passed on in May 2024. I didn’t get the chance to mourn or bury him. My children right now are on the verge of dropping out of school due to unpaid school fees. My wife still suffers from dementia and cries to me through the letters she writes. It hurts, it hurts so much not to be there for my family.
My intent was always to uphold the values of integrity and responsibility. I highly regret my actions and decisions that ended me in prison. Life here in prison is not like a walk in the park, as an O/N (OTHER NATIONALITY), I face many challenges; discrimination, being profiled by color, racism, and more. The irony of all this is that the prisoners who give me this torment are from other nations too. I must commend Honghongers because they are very understanding, loving, and helpful where possible.
Friends out there, especially the youth, please do not get yourselves involved in Dangerous Drugs (using or trafficking), this will end you in jail and your life will become stagnant. By the time you finish your jail term, your friends out there will have moved on and prospered. So please, stay out of drugs.
Note: This letter has been edited to improve the readability and clarity of the story.
