{"id":5702,"date":"2025-07-01T13:00:24","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=5702"},"modified":"2025-07-01T13:00:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T13:00:24","slug":"bucharest-taxi-driver-who-scammed-nobel-prize-laureate-detained-by-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=5702","title":{"rendered":"Bucharest taxi driver who scammed Nobel Prize laureate detained by police"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, June 27, the venerable Nigerian arrived at Bucharest&#8217;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 <a href=\"https:\/\/adevarul.ro\/stiri-interne\/evenimente\/turist-de-90-de-ani-tepuit-de-un-taximetrist-2453993.html\">Adevarul<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The taxi driver then drove off, not before he had to have his car pushed by other taxi drivers.<\/p>\n<p>The police from the \u201cHenri Coand\u0103\u201d Airport Transport Police Department took notice of the case, and the taxi driver was detained two days later, on Sunday, June 29.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a result of the investigations, the person suspected of committing the act, a 43-year-old man, was identified and taken in for questioning,\u201d according to the Police. He is being investigated for fraud.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>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.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, he was highly sought after as a lecturer, and many of his lectures were published.<\/p>\n<p>Soyinka was in Romania last weekend to receive a star on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.romania-insider.com\/bill-murray-kathleen-turner-sibiu-walk-fame-june-2025\">Walk of Fame in Sibiu<\/a>, along with other cultural figures from around the world.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"mailto:radu@romania-insider.com\">radu@romania-insider.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>(Photo source:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dreamstime.com\/albertophotography_info\">Albertophotography<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dreamstime.com\/\">Dreamstime.com<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&#8217;s Otopeni Airport. He got into a taxi and asked to be taken to a hotel downtown. At the destination, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}