Bucharest taxi driver who scammed Nobel Prize laureate detained by police

A Romanian taxi driver who scammed 90-year-old Nigerian Nobel Prize laureate Wole Soyinka was detained by police on Sunday, June 29, according to media reports.

On Friday, June 27, the venerable Nigerian arrived at Bucharest's Otopeni Airport. He got into a taxi and asked to be taken to a hotel downtown. At the destination, the taxi driver demanded EUR 400, more than 20 times the normal amount for a fare. Faced with his protests, Soyinka paid the amount, according to Adevarul.

The taxi driver then drove off, not before he had to have his car pushed by other taxi drivers.

The police from the “Henri Coandă” Airport Transport Police Department took notice of the case, and the taxi driver was detained two days later, on Sunday, June 29.

“As a result of the investigations, the person suspected of committing the act, a 43-year-old man, was identified and taken in for questioning,” according to the Police. He is being investigated for fraud.

Born in 1934, Soyinka became known in his home country as a playwright, novelist, poet, and political activist. He studied at the University of Leeds and, after graduating, began his literary career. He founded a theatre company, wrote novels, plays, and poems. He established political parties and was a supporter of democracy in Nigeria.

After winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, he was highly sought after as a lecturer, and many of his lectures were published.

Soyinka was in Romania last weekend to receive a star on the Walk of Fame in Sibiu, along with other cultural figures from around the world.

(Photo source: Albertophotography | Dreamstime.com)