The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Monday, February 14 declared deputy police commissioner Abba Kyari wanted over a drug deal.
Kyari is currently suspended from the Force for alleged involvement in internet fraud perpetrated by convicted fraudster Ramon Abass aka Hushpuppi in the United States.
NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi said at a press conference that the former head of the Intelligence Response Team was invited by NDLEA for debriefing on February 10 but had yet to show up to date.
“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. His failure to cooperate forced the hand of the Agency and that is the reason for this press briefing,” he said.
Explaining how an NDLEA official reported a case involving Kyari, Babafemi said, “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 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.”
The NDLEA spokesman said Kyari offered to pay the officer and an FCT commander by selling, on their behalf, half of the remaining cocaine after distributing it to others.
Babafemi further said the agency has sound and video recordings to prove its case.
