The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has chronicled how
it nabbed suspended Head of the Intelligence Response Team, DCP Abba Kyari in a
drug deal.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, at a press briefing in
Abuja on Monday, narrated that Kyari belonged to a drug cartel that operates
the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline.
Babafemi said Kyari contacted an officer of the Agency in
January 2022 and tried to seal a deal.
He said, “Let me give a synopsis of what transpired. The saga started on Friday, January 21, 2022, when DCP Kyari initiated a call to one of the NDLEA officers in Abuja at 2:12 pm. 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 (Kyari) 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 am 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 between 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 (Kyari) 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 kilogram, the proceed 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 (Kyari) put pressure on our officer 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. At the time, he was speaking
from Lagos, where he allegedly travelled for private business.
“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 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 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 tip-off, his team departed Abuja to Enugu and arrested the traffickers,
removed part of the consignment on his instruction and replaced same with
dummies.
“He (Kyari) 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 (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. And the moment was documented, part of which I will play
for you at the end of this briefing.
“DCP Abba Kyari was invited by NDLEA for debriefing on
Thursday February 10 through two main channels because there is a whole lot of
questions begging for answers. The invitation was legitimate and formal
according to our protocol. But up till the close of office hours on Friday,
February 11, he refused to respond. Up till this moment, he hasn’t responded.
“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.”
Recall that Kyari was indicted in 2021 by the Federal Bureau
of Investigation in the United States for his alleged role in a $1m scam
allegedly perpetrated by alleged international Internet fraudster Ramon Abbas,
aka, Hushpuppi and five others.
FBI Special Agent, Andrew Innocenti, had said he obtained
voice calls and WhatsApp conversations between Kyari and Hushpuppi, adding that
Hushpuppi also paid the police officer N8m or $20,600 for the arrest and
detention of a “co-conspirator,” Chibuzo Vincent.
The United States Attorney’s Office at the Central District
of California had ordered the FBI to arrest Kyari but the IGP and the Minister
of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) evasively continued to shield Kyari till this
moment.
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