WARNING TO AFRICAN TRAVELERS:
I received an email this morning regarding an awful incident that happened to a friend, Soila, who is an elephant expert in Kenya. She is a tough lady and pretty street smart in Nairobi. That the following happened to her makes it imperative that anyone traveling to Africa be extremely careful while on the streets. Don’t stop and talk with people you don’t know, don't shake their hands, don’t accept anything from them. I’ll paste below her horrifying events.
Dear Friends,
As Soila comes out of the shock of the episode, the truth of what happened begins to emerge: she has been the victim of an elaborate scam that involved drugging her by some means to render her totally compliant, vociferous and unconscious of what is transpiring. She's reconstructing the sequence of events piece by piece. It seems the scam began in the parking lot of the Aga Khan, and the story from there is quite fantastic. We shall inform the AK hospital admin tomorrow, and maybe try to invoke an old friend, who happens to be the chairman of the Aga Khan Foundation in Kenya. We shall also meet with the KCB manager to let him know that the scam is being perpetrated in his bank.
Stay tuned....
On 28 Nov 2008, at 13:14, Soila wrote:
Dear all,
It is great news that the two men and two women who high jacked me yesterday on the street of Nairobi Kencom House while I was about to cross the road to get a taxi near Hilton hotel didn,t kill me. I was in a shock yesterday and did not tell my story well but this morning I recalled a lot of things that one of the ladies who was seated next to me was saying to me. She knew that my mother prays a lot for us, she mentioned that I have two boys and one girl, both boys are working. She also told me that from where I come from I am meant to be a leader and I am very generous to a lot of people, I have helped my family members and also outsiders, next year there are plans for me to be given a promotion and also at the moment she knows that I am in Nairobi seeing doctors because I have a back problem and my right leg gives problems because a slipped discs.
H thinks maybe I had dream about all this but for sure it is what she said and I still recall her face and the way she was dressed. Anyway the money is gone and I am not sure why it came into my mind that I withdraw such an amount of cash to deposit to a different account. When they forced me into their salon car, one of the guys showed me a pistol. I thought they will kill me but they didn,t. They took a lot of money 1,150,000.00 plus the 7000 that was in my handbag. The lady looked familiar but don,t remember where I saw her, she also took my phone, the zain line. Believe it or not this is what she said to me and I am so lucky that I did not go mad but I told members of my family to pray for me.
I just pray that God will forgive them and I thank God that I am still a live. Also, I appreciate everybody who is concerned and kept on calling to give me courage.
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Note: Email example contributed by Cally, Aug. 25, 2008:
Subject: BE AWARE! READ THIS GIRLS!
Share with your sisters, daughters, nieces, mothers, female friends, EVERYONE.
NEW WARNING!! Incident has been confirmed
In Katy, Tx a man came over and offered his services as a painter to a female putting gas in her car and left his card. She said no , but accepted his card out of kindness and got in the car. The man then got into a car driven by another gentleman. As the lady left the service station and saw the men following her out of the station at the same time. Almost immediately, she started to feel dizzy and could not catch her breath. She tried to open the window and realized that the odor was on her hand; the same hand which accepted the card from the gentleman at the gas station.
She then noticed the men were immediately behind her and she felt she needed to do something at that moment. She drove into the first driveway and began to honk her horn to ask for help. The men drove away but the lady still felt pretty bad for several minutes after she could finally catch her breath. Apparently there was a substance on the card and could have seriously injured her. The drug is called 'BURUNDANGA' and it is used by people who wish to incapacitate a victim in order to steal or take advantage of them.
Four times greater than date rape drug and is transferable on simple cards. So take heed and make sure you don't accept cards at any given time alone or from someone on the streets. This applies to those making house calls and slipping you a card when they offer their services.
Variant #2:
Email example contributed by Irene, May 12, 2008:
Warning...Be Careful!!
This incident has been confirmed. Ladies please be careful and share w/everyone you know!
This can happen anywhere!
And Another Warning . . . Last Wednesday, Jaime Rodriguez's neighbor was at a gas station in Katy. A man came and offered his neighbor his services as a painter and gave her a card. She took the card and got in her car.
The man got into a car driven by another person. She left the station and noticed that the men were leaving the gas station at the same time. Almost immediately, she started to feel dizzy and could not catch her breath.
She tried to open the windows and in that moment she realized that there was a strong odor from the card. She also realized that the men were following her. The neighbor went to another neighbor's house and honked on her horn to ask for help. The men left, but the victim felt bad for several minutes.
Apparently there was a substance on the card, the substance was very strong and may have seriously injured her.
Jaime checked the Internet and there is a drug called "Burundanga" that is used by some people to incapacitate a victim in order to steal or take advantage of them. Please be careful and do not accept anything from unknown people on the street.
Comments: Is there a drug called burundanga used by criminals in South America to incapacitate their victims? Yes.
Do news sources confirm that burundanga has been used recently to commit crimes in the United States? No, there have been no such reports.
The story above is a fabrication. Two details betray it as such:
The victim allegedly received a dose of the drug by simply touching a business card. (All sources agree that burundanga must be inhaled or ingested, or the subject must have prolonged topical contact with it, in order for it to have an effect.)
The victim allegedly detected a "strong odor" coming from the drug-laced card. (All sources agree that burundanga is odorless and tasteless.)
What is burundanga?
Burundanga is the street version of a pharmaceutical drug called scopolamine. It is made from the extracts of plants in the nightshade family such as henbane and jimson weed. It's a deliriant, meaning it can induce symptoms of delirium such as disorientation, loss of memory, hallucinations, and stupor.
You can see why it would be popular with criminals.
In powdered form scopolamine can be easily mixed into food or drink, or blown directly into victims' faces, forcing them to inhale it.
The drug achieves its "zombifying" effects by inhibiting the transmission of nerve impulses in the brain and muscles. It has several legitimate medicinal uses, including the treatment of nausea, motion sickness, and gastrointestinal cramps. Historically, it has also been used as a "truth serum" by law enforcement agencies. And, like its street cousin burundanga, scopolamine has frequently been implicated as a stupefying agent or "knockout drug" in the commission of crimes such as robbery, kidnapping, and date rape.
