NDLEA dismisses suggestions its men are involved in Abba Kyari's drug triangle

NIGERIA'S National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has released more information on arrested policeman Assistant Police Commissioner Abba Kyari saying attempts to  debunk his role in a drug smuggling ring cannot stand up to scrutiny.

On Monday, Mr Kyari, who headed the Nigeria Police Force's Intelligence Response Team (IRT), was arrested over his alleged links with an international drug cartel. NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi, said Mr Kyari is a member of a cartel that operates the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria pipeline, so he needs to answer questions that cropped up in an ongoing drug case in which he is the principal actor along with other policemen.

Hitting back, however, the police have claimed that the NDLEA are the real criminals as they regularly sell seized drugs back to these cartels. Dismissing such claims, the NDLEA said that it had no reason to shield anyone who may be indicted in the course of the ongoing investigation of this 25kg cocaine deal.

According to Mr Babafemi, the NDLEA remains committed to evidence-based investigation and its resolve cannot be weakened by any misrepresentation of facts. He issued a statement on behalf of NDLEA, which he said was to correct inaccuracies in some reports and assured that the agency will not deviate from an evidence-based investigation that will spare nobody found complicit.

Mr Babafemi said: “To correct some inaccuracies in the information in the public space that NDLEA officers at the Enugu airport were the ones who received from the cartel details about the mule coming from Addis Ababa, the agency wishes to quote from the transcript of Abba Kyari’s recorded conversation with our undercover officer and a portion of  James Bawa’s statement to the police as documented in the investigation report. A copy of this was made available to the agency, to state that it’s an established fact that it’s Abba Kyari’s team that was contacted by the cartel and without doubt, the records clearly show how their ring works."

He added that according to the police investigation report, Assistant Superintendant of Police James Bawa in his statement reveals that he was called by an informant identified as IK from Brazil who told him that a drug courier will be arriving on board Ethiopian Airlines in Enugu. Mr Babafemi explained further that a pointer from IK, the Brazil based informant, met with him at about 1420hrs on 19th January 2022 outside the airport and showed him a picture of the courier.

Subsequently, they sighted the suspect as he exited the airport terminal after all arrival clearance formalities, and he was arrested with another associate. He that added that in his own recorded conversation with an undercover officer, Abba Kyari also accused the informants of being greedy.

He added that Mr Kyari said:  “They are greedy, seriously greedy, as we tried to have them accept 40% but they refused, except 50%. They know the rudiment of the deal very well, they are the ones that do the packing."