Wanted DCP Abba Kyari, 4
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, says, the Nigeria Police Force has handed over the suspended DCP Abba Kyari, the erstwhile Commander of Intelligence Response Team (IRT) at the Force Intelligence Bureau of the Nigeria Police Force, DCP Abba Kyari to the anti-narcotic agency, few hours after he was declared wanted by the Agency over his alleged involvement in a 25kilograms Cocaine deal.
Five of the wanted suspects namely: DCP Abba Kyari; ACP Sunday J. Ubua; ASP Bawa James; Inspector Simon Agirgba and Inspector John Nuhu were driven into the National Headquarters of NDLEA in Abuja at about 5pm on Monday 14th February to formally hand them over for interrogation and further investigation.
A statement signed by the Agency’s Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, assured that no stone will be left unturned to ensure that all suspects already in custody and those that may still be indicted in the course of investigation will face the full weight of the law if found guilty at the end of the ongoing probe.
It will be recalled that earlier on Monday, in a press briefing addressed by NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, in Abuja the anti-narcotic agency had declared Kyari wanted saying it took the decision after all efforts to get him honour formal invitations for interrogation failed.
The Agency had alleged that with the intelligence available, it believes strongly that DCP Kyari is a member of a drug cartel that operates the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline, and he needs to answer questions that cropped up in an ongoing drug case in which he is the principal actor hence his failure to cooperate forced the hand of the Agency to declaring him wanted.
The Agency also claimed that there are threats to the lives of its officers involved in the case, assuring that it would do everything to protect its officers even as it promises to carry out an unbiased investigation to get to the root of the case
It warned that it is making a strong statement to those contemplating harmful action against NDLEA officers for they will only succeed in compounding their problems in the event of the murder of or harm to officers and men of the Agency.
Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police has charged the NDLEA to investigate officer of the Agency the Nigeria Police Force had earlier arrested DCP Abba Kyari and four other police officers for their involvement in the alleged case of criminal conspiracy, discreditable, unethical, and unprofessional conduct, official corruption and tampering with exhibits in a case of illicit drug trafficking involving a perpetual transnational drug cartel.
A statement signed by the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyinwa Adejobi, said the arrest of the officers was sequel to pieces of information received from the leadership of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on 10th February, 2022.
It said in line with standard administrative procedure of the Force, the Inspector General of Police ordered a high-level, discreet, and in-house investigation into the allegations and the interim investigations report revealed that two (2) international drug couriers identified as Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus, both males, were arrested at Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu on the 19th of January, 2022 upon their arrival from Addis Ababa aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight ET917.
It further revealed that although the case and the two suspects were subsequently transferred to the NDLEA on the 25th January, 2022, the findings of the in-house investigation ordered by the Inspector General of Police established reasonable grounds for strong suspicion that the IRT officers involved in the operation could have been involved in some underhand and unprofessional dealings as well as official corruption which compromised ethical standards in their dealings with the suspects and exhibits recovered.
Beyond this, the Police investigation also established that the international narcotics cartel involved in this case have strong ties with some officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu who are on their pay roll saying the two arrested drug couriers confirmed that the modus is for the transnational drug barons to conspire with the NDLEA officers on duty and send them their pre-boarding photographs for identification, seamless clearance, and unhindered passage out of the airport with the narcotics being trafficked.
The two arrested drug couriers also confirmed that they have been enjoying this relationship with the NDLEA officers at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport since 2021 and had in this instant case of 19th January, 2022, been identified and cleared by the NDLEA officers as customary, having received their pre-departure photographs and other details prior to their arrival in Enugu, and were on their way out with the narcotics when they were apprehended by the Police.
The statement noted, Police investigations report also indicted DCP Abba Kyari, who had been on suspension for his alleged involvement in a different fraud case being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), for complicity in the allegation of official corruption, tampering with narcotics exhibit and sundry unprofessional conducts that negate the standard administrative and investigative protocols of the Force as well as extant criminal laws and emphasised that DCP Abba Kyari’s involvement in these allegation occurred while his suspension from service was subsisting.
