By our reporter| The Nigeria police command is planning to arrest more senior police operatives and other security agents following the detention of DCP Abba Kyari, the suspended commander of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) at the Force Intelligence Bureau of the Nigeria Police Force, over drug-related offences.
Kyari was on Monday declared wanted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for selling cocaine consignment seized by IRT operatives from drug barons at the Enugu airport in January this year.
Sources at the force headquarters on Monday told a national publication that there was a “high profile complicity” in the incident involving Kyari who the NDLEA said has strong ties with cross-border drug barons using his position in the police as cover.
“Serious infractions have been established against Kyari in relation to drug crimes but the matter was being foot dragged at the police headquarters in Abuja and commands in some states, the source said.
“People would be picked in other high profile places because the secret has been busted.”
“The investigation of Kyari on the latest and other pending issues were being deliberately delayed by powerful forces because beyond the suspended deputy commissioner of police and the few officers whose names have been mentioned, there are some senior officers that are directly involved and they know they would be implicated, hence the tactical delay and needless technicalities in handling the matter.”
Kyari was arrested a few hours after he was declared wanted by the NDLEA over his involvement in a 25 kilograms cocaine deal and was handed over to the anti-narcotic agency.
According to the publication, before the latest development, the issue of the drug deal involving him and the NDLEA operatives was only known to the top echelon of the NPF, but was discussed in hush tones by both officers and rank and file of the force on Monday.
According to one of the officers, the arrest and subsequent handover of Kyari to NDLEA for probe had caused serious confusion in the force.
“It is an institutional indictment. In the police force, especially among us the junior officers we see Oga Kyari as a role model in view of the various breakthroughs he had made in the arrest of criminals across the country.
“The drug thing happened while we are waiting to see how the Hushpuppi scandal will end,” he said.
Another police officer said the deal between Kyari and the NDLEA was not unusual.
“This is not unusual. Seized items are sold including hemp and other drugs. It is you people that are expressing shock. There are bad elements in both the police, NDLEA, and other security agencies, especially at our airports,” he said.
DCP Kyari and others involved in the drug deal spent Monday night in NDLEA cells as the agency drilled them over the level of their complicity in the illegal drug deal.
In a statement on Monday, the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, said five of the wanted suspects – DCP Kyari, ACP Sunday J. Ubua, ASP Bawa James, Inspector Simon Agirgba, and Inspector John Nuhu – were driven into the anti-drug agency’s headquarters at about 5 pm to formally hand them over for interrogation and further investigation.
“The agency wishes to assure 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 at the end of the ongoing probe,” he said.
Babafemi had, earlier at a press conference Monday, said an investigation revealed that the celebrated Kyari is a member of a drug syndicate that operates across the globe.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force on Monday night said that Kyari was not alone in the deal.
According to a statement by acting spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi, the arrest of Kyari and others was sequel to discreditable, unethical and unprofessional conduct, official corruption and tampering with exhibits in a case of illicit drug trafficking involving a perpetual transnational drug cartel.
“The interim investigations report revealed that two 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.
“The arrest led to the recovery of a substantial quantity of powdery substance suspected to be cocaine from the two narcotic couriers.
“The operation, which was intelligence-driven, was undertaken by a unit of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).”
The spokesman also stated that beyond that, the police investigation also established that the international narcotics cartel involved in this case has strong ties with some officers of the NDLEA at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu who are on their payroll.
“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,” he said.
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