The Nigeria Police Force yesterday arrested the embattled former head of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Mr. Abba Kyari and for others for their “involvement in an 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.”
The others are ACP Sunday Ubuah, ASP Bawa James, ASP John Umoru (at large), Inspector Simon Agrigba and John Nuhu.
They were handed over to the NDLEA authorities.
This was contained in a statement issued by the new spokesman for the police, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi.
Recall that earlier yesterday, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had declared Kyari wanted for allegedly cutting a deal in respect of cocaine confiscated from a drug trafficking syndicate.
Spokesman for the NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi, had, a press conference in Abuja, alleged that Kyari belonged to a Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria drug trafficking syndicate.
He said the suspended police officer attempted to sell part of the cocaine, which was seized from some drug dealers.
“Some law enforcement agents, who should be partners in the pursuit of the President’s mandate, are at the forefront of breaking the law, as they aid and abet drug trafficking in the country.
“Today, we are forced to declare one of such law enforcement agents wanted in the person of suspended DCP Abba Kyari, the erstwhile Commander of the Intelligence Response Team at the Force Intelligence Bureau of the Nigerian Police Force.”
He disclosed that on Friday, January 21, 2022, Kyari initiated a call to one of the agency’s officers in Abuja around 2.12pm, adding that when the officer returned the call two minutes later, the former IRT leader informed him that he was coming to discuss an operational matter with him after the Friday prayers.
“He (Kyari) appeared at the agreed venue of the meeting with the officer and went straight to the crux of the matter.
“The NDLEA officer’s team had intercepted and arrested some traffickers, who came into the country from Ethiopia with 25kg of cocaine. He (Kyari) proposed a drug deal whereby he and his team are to take 15kg of the cocaine and leave 10kg for the prosecution of the suspects arrested with the illicit drug in Enugu.
“In the meantime, the purloined cocaine will be replaced with a dummy worth 15kg. He asked the NDLEA officer to persuade men of the FCT Command to play along as well,” Babafemi stated.
He said the officer in question immediately informed the NDLEA authorities about Kyari’s plan and the agency subsequently asked him to play along with the senior police officer.
He added that around 11.05am on January 24, Kyari and the NDLEA officer in question began communicating on WhatsApp and the officer expressed his willingness to accede to Kyari’s request.
“At this point, Kyari disclosed that the 15kg (already taken out) was shared between the informants that provided information for the seizure and himself and his men of the IRT of the Nigeria Police.
“He said the informants were given 7kg, while his team took 8kg, which was already sold. He then offered to pay the NDLEA team (that is the officer and the FCT commander) by selling, on their behalf, half of the remaining 10kg, thereby further reducing the original cocaine for the prosecution to just 5kg.
“At N7m per kilogramme, the proceeds from the 5kg would amount to N35m at the exchange rate of N570 per dollar, being the black market rate for the day, January 24, 2022. In effect, he would be delivering $61,400 to the NDLEA team,” he said.
The NDLEA spokesman further said Kyari who was in Lagos at the time he started the negotiation kept on at the NDLEA operative to seal the deal with the commander of the FCT Command to take custody of the drug and the suspects from his men, who were on the ground in Abuja.
“The next day, January 25, Kyari offered to send his younger brother to deliver the payment, while his men deliver the suspects, but our officer turned down the suggestion, insisting that he would rather deal with him in person and was therefore prepared to wait for him to return from Lagos.
“And by 5.23 pm, Kyari was in Abuja and met with the officer at the same rendezvous where they had the first meeting. In their discussion, he disclosed how his team received information from a double-crosser, who betrayed the traffickers to him, showing a sordid connection between law enforcement agents and the drug underworld; he narrated how acting on the tip-off, his team departed Abuja to Enugu and arrested the traffickers, removed parts of the consignment on his instructions and replaced same with dummies.”
According to Kyari’s plan, once the 5kg cocaine was tested in the presence of the suspects and confirmed positive, there will be no need to test the remaining ones, being dummies.
According to Babafemi, “he (Kyari) also brought with him the money from the sale of the 5kg share of the NDLEA team, a total of $61,400. Our officer, however, preferred to take the money inside his car. Well, the car was wired with sound and video recorders,” Babafemi added.
Babafemi who played a video to journalists showing a man believed to be Kyari discussing with the NDLEA officer in Hausa language, also said after the operation, the agency invited Kyari, but he refused to show up, thereby necessitating him being declared wanted.
Babafemi said, “The suspects and drugs were delivered to us on February 8, but the last part of the process, which is yet to be completed, is the debriefing of Kyari.
“Having failed to honour the official invitation, the NDLEA has no option but to declare DCP Abba Kyari of the Nigeria Police Force wanted right from this very moment.
“With the intelligence at our disposal, the agency 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 crop up in an ongoing drug case in which he is the principal actor.”
The NPF while turning in Kyari and four others said in-house investigation by in-house investigation ordered by the inspector general of police established reasonable grounds for strong suspicion that the IRT officers involved in the operation were accomplices.
“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. 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 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).
“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,” Adejobi said.
However, he said there was a reasonable suspicion that NDLEA officials were also part of the international drug trafficking ring as confessed by two of the arrested drug couriers.
“Beyond this, the police investigation also established that the international narcotics cartel involved in this case have strong ties with some officers of the NDLEA at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu who are on their pay roll.
“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,” he added.
Adejobi charged the NDLEA to do its homework by arresting its officers involved in the deal.
“The inspector general of police has also formally requested that the chairman and chief executive officer of the national NDLEA should ensure the identification, arrest and investigation of the agency’s officers who have also been found to be colluding with the international drug cartel involved in this case towards advancing the anti-narcotics agenda of the federal government,” he said.
The police spokesman assured the public of the commitment of the IGP, Mr. Usman Baba “to upholding the tenets and values of policing in line with the agenda of ethical regeneration, restoration of professional standard, enhancement of the anti-corruption drive, respect for the rule of law and inter-agency collaboration in the drive to stabilise the internal security order of the country.”
