Man indicted in US for drug deal elected senator in Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A man indicted in the United States for allegedly smuggling heroin, in a case that was the basis for the TV hit "Orange Is The New Black," has been elected a senator in Nigeria.

Buruji Kashamu was little known before he returned home in 2003 from Britain, despite a U.S. extradition order, to become a major financier of President Goodluck Jonathan's party.

Election results posted late Wednesday identify Kashamu as senator-elect in southwest Ogun state. Opponents are challenging his victory in court, saying ballots were rigged.

Kashamu, 56, hung up the phone twice when The Associated Press called today for comment about the drug case. Kashamu has said he is "a clean businessman" and that the 1998 indictment by a grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois for conspiracy to import and distribute heroin in the United States is a case of mistaken identity. He has said Chicago prosecutors really want the dead brother he closely resembles.

A British court refused a U.S. extradition request in 2003 over uncertainty about Kashamu's identity. Chicago Judge Richard Posner refused a motion to dismiss Kashamu's case last year.