Metro

Bus driver busted for allegedly acting as drug courier on route

A city bus driver was transporting $3 million worth of heroin along with passengers on his Bronx route, federal authorities said Thursday.

Veteran MTA driver Francis Abankwa, 50, was busted at the Kingsbridge Depot in Manhattan last Friday after he picked up African dope smuggler Boubacar Traore during a pre-arranged meeting to hand off the haul, Brooklyn federal-court papers allege.

But Abankwa didn’t know that Traore had been nailed with the 3 kilograms of heroin, packed inside a suitcase, at JFK Airport the previous day and agreed to cooperate against his alleged accomplice by following through with the delivery, court papers state.

With two DEA agents aboard, Abankwa originally scheduled the pickup for 4 p.m. — but told Traore to wait until the driver’s last run because the bus was too packed with passengers.

Abankwa eventually picked up Traore and the heroin at 6:51 p.m. along the Grand Concourse, and the courier-turned-snitch stayed on the bus until they reached the end of the run at the Inwood bus depot.

Agents swooped in and arrested Abankwa, who has been suspended by the MTA.

Riders on Abankwa’s line were stunned to hear of the arrest.

“Where there are drugs there is violence,” said bus rider Skip Wallace, 65. “And who knows, if a deal went bad, the whole bus could have gotten shot up. That driver takes all the riders’ lives into his hands when he gets behind the wheel.”

Abankwa, with eight years on the job, faces up to 10 years in prison.