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 Inwood 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 a pair of DEA agents onboard, Abankwa originally scheduled the pick up for 4 pm — but told Traore to wait until his last shift because the bus was too packed with passengers.
Abankwa eventually picked up Traore and the heroin at 6:51 pm along the Grand Concourse and the courier turned snitch stayed on the bus — as it picked up and dropped off passengers — until they reached the end of the run at the Inwood bus depot.
Agents swooped in and arrested Abankwa who has refused to discuss the alleged crime, sources said. The driver has been suspended by the MTA.
He was arraigned Friday in Brooklyn federal court and held without bail while Traore was released on $100,000 bond.
Riders on Abankwa’s line were stunned to hear about the bust. “I think it’s a terrible thing that driver did,” said Doris Burton, 46. “Seriously, he can’t deal heroin on his own time? There’s already enough problems with this line. It’s never punctual. Maybe his drug dealing is throwing all the other drivers off schedule.”
“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. What he did was foolish and dangerous.”
Abankwa – who has worked as a bus driver for eight years and lives alone in the Bronx – faces up to 10 years in prison.
Additional reporting by Rebecca Harshbarger