A Nigerian 'witch doctor' has been jailed for 14 years after collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars from cocaine traffickers who hoped his 'supernatural powers' would protect them from authorities.
According to US Department of Justice,Christopher Omigie, from Lafayette, Louisiana, was consulted by Mexican members of the Cesar Barrera and David Bazan drug trafficking organizations, based in East Texas, on a daily basis.
Before, during and after each drug transaction, he would carry out card readings, perform massages with 'magic' oils, cut off skin with razor blades and apply 'magic' powder to the traffickers' bodies.
The 58-year-old also used 'magic' amulets, belts, coconuts and rocks (that those being treated were required to speak to) in a bid to keep Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials away.
The drug traffickers were required by Omigie to forgo bathing and sexual intercourse following the magic treatments so as not to diminish their potency.
They were also told to burn 'magic law stay away' candles to protect them from being detected, prosecutors said. All of these treatments came at a high price - and unsurprisingly, did not work.
Mexican nationals Barrera and Bazan were both arrested. They subsequently pleaded guilty to schemes involving the trafficking of more than a staggering 1,000 kilograms of cocaine each.
Meanwhile, Omigie himself, who regularly returned to Africa at the drug traffickers' expense to 'renew' his 'supernatural powers', was indicted by a federal grand jury
