Sunday Ejike, Author at Tribune Online

FOLLOWING the arrest of suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, and four other police officers, police investigation has established that the international narcotics cartel involved in the deals had ‘strong ties’ with some officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and men of the Nigeria Police. Others arrested alongside Kyari were Sunday Ubuah, Bawa James, Simon Agrigba, and John Nuhu, while the fifth suspect, John Umoru, is still at large. They were arrested on Monday 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 police said. Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed their arrest in a statement in Abuja, revealed that they had been handed over to authorities of the NDLEA. “The arrest of the officers followed pieces of infor- mation received from the leadership of the NDLEA on February 10, 2022,” Adejobi said, adding that “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 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).” While the case and the two suspects were transferred to the NDLEA on January 25, Adejobi said the findings of the in-house investigation ordered by the police chief established “reasonable grounds for strong suspicion” that the IRT officers involved in the operation could have been involved in some underhand and unprofessional dealings. He added that beyond this, the police investigation also established that the international narcotics cartel involved in the case had ties with some officers of the NDLEA at the airport, who were said to be on their payroll. The two arrested drug couriers, according to the police spokesman, 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,” Adejobi recounted. The police investigations report also indicted Abba Kyari, who had been on suspension for his alleged involvement in a fraud case being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). The police spokesman said the IGP had formally requested the NDLEA chairman and Chief Executive Officer to ensure the identification, arrest and investigation of the anti-drug agency’s officers found to be colluding with the international drug cartel involved in the case. Earlier, the NDLEA had declared Kyari, the erstwhile commander of the IRT at the Force Intelligence Bureau of the Nigerian Police, wanted over his alleged involvement in illicit drug deal. Director, Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, told a press conference on Monday that Kyari was declared wanted by the agency for refusing to honour its invitation to offer explanation on his involvement in the illicit drug deal. Babafemi said the agency believes that 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. Babafemi later confirmed the handing over of Kyari and four others to the agency by the Nigerian Police. Giving a vivid explanation of what transpired, the NDLEA spokesman said, the saga started on January 21, 2022, when DCP Kyari initiated a call to one of the NDLEA officers in Abuja at 2:12 p.m. When the officer returned the call two minutes later, Kyari informed him he was coming to see him to discuss an operational matter after the Juma’at service. “He appeared at the agreed venue of the meeting with the officer and went straight to the crux of the matter. This was it: His team had intercepted and arrested some traffickers that came into the country from Ethiopia with, according to him, 25kg of cocaine. He 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. “By 11:05 a.m on Monday, January 24, after the agency gave the officer the green light to play along, he and Kyari began a WhatsApp call for the rest of the day. The officer conveyed ‘their’ willingness to play the game. “At this point, Kyari disclosed that the 15kg (already taken out) was shared be- tween the informants that provided information for the seizure and he and his men of the IRT of the Nigerian Police. According to him, 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 N7 million per kilogram, the proceed from the 5kg would amount to N35 mil- lion, at the exchange rate of N570 per dollar being the black market rate for the day, January 24, 2022. In ef- fect, he would be delivering $61,400 to the NDLEA team. He put pressure on our offi- cer to wrap up the arrangement with the commander of the FCT command to take custody of the drug and suspects from his men who were on 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 he would rather deal with him in person and was, therefore, prepared to wait for him to return from Lagos. “And by 5:23 p.m., 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 the 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 tipoff, his team departed Abuja to Enugu and arrested the traffickers, removed part of the consignment on his instruction and replaced same with dummies. “He also indicated how to identify the remnant of the original cocaine that would be delivered to NDLEA, five original packages marked with red dots. The reason for this was to avoid the dummies being subjected to test. He forwarded a picture of the marked original cocaine package. “According to the plan, once the 5kg cocaine has been tested in the presence of the suspects and confirmed positive, there would be no need to test the remaining ones, being dummies. “He 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. And the moment was doc- umented,” part of which he played for newsmen at the end of the briefing. The NDLEA, he said, has a trove of intelligence, hard facts, from chats to photos and video and a detailed transcript of the communication between Abba Kyari and the NDLEA officer. Babafemi said NDLEA has the mandate to take custody of suspects and consignments of drugs seized by other arms of law enforcement, following the standard protocol for such transfer, adding that, the suspects and drugs were delivered to the agency on February 8 but the last part of the process, yet to be completed, was the de- briefing of Kyari. He told the journalists that Kyari was invited by NDLEA for debriefing on Thursday, February 10, through two main channels because there are questions begging for answers from him. “But up till the close of office hours on Friday, February 11, he refused to respond. Up till this moment, he hasn’t responded. We are a law-abiding agency of government. We follow due process. In that vein, we will not detain suspects beyond the stipu- lated period according to the law before we charge them to court. And Kyari must be debriefed before the suspects are arraigned in court. “Having failed to honour the official invitation, NDLEA has no option but to declare DCP Abba Kyari of the Nigerian Police wanted, right from this very moment”, he said.