Breaking news : NDLEA has declared DCP Abba Kyari wanted in connection with illegal drug trafficking.
Abba Kyari has been declared wanted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for significant cocaine trafficking.
On Monday, the sacked police chief was placed on the wanted list.
FEBRUARY 14, 2022 • PRESS RELEASE
On Monday, February 14, 2022, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) issued a press briefing in which the following text was included:
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen of the press, there is no better way to begin this press briefing than to remind us of the magnitude of the drug problem that Nigeria is grappling with, and the imperative for all well-meaning Nigerians to play a positive role in bringing the illicit drug menace under control.
Breaking news : NDLEA has declared DCP Abba Kyari wanted
Even before the shocking findings of the 2018 National Drug Use and Health Survey were released, Nigeria’s drug problem was on the verge of reaching epidemic proportions.
And, if anything, the number of arrests and seizures made by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in the past year is an indication that the country’s drug problem was grossly underestimated prior to President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to strengthen the NDLEA and the Agency’s subsequent launch of offensive action to rid the country of the menace.
And, in just a year, even the most cynical Nigerians have come to see that the country is truly mired in a drug quagmire, and they have come to respect the tireless work of NDLEA agents and agents of the police.
The unfortunate reality is that some law enforcement officers who should be working together to fulfill the President’s mission instead find themselves at the front lines of breaching the law by assisting and abeting drug trafficking operations in the country.
We are forced to declare one of these law enforcement agents wanted today in the person of suspended DCP Abba Kyari, the former Commander of Intelligence Response Team (IRT) at the Force Intelligence Bureau of the Nigerian Police Force. DCP Abba Kyari was the former Commander of Intelligence Response Team (IRT) at the Force Intelligence Bureau of the Nigerian Police Force.
Based on the intelligence we have at our disposal, the Agency is confident that DCP Kyari is a member of a drug cartel that operates the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline, and he is required to provide answers to questions that have arisen in an ongoing drug investigation in which he is a principal actor. DCP Kyari is being held without bail in connection with the ongoing drug investigation. Because of his refusal to comply, the Agency was obliged to intervene, which is why this news conference is being held.
Allow me to provide a brief summary of what transpired.
Breaking news : NDLEA has declared DCP Abba Kyari wanted When DCP Kyari launched a call to one of the NDLEA officers in Abuja at 2:12 p.m. on Friday, January 21, 2022, the saga was just getting underway. When the officer returned the call two minutes later, Kyari informed him that he was coming to see him after the Juma’at service to discuss an operational concern.
He showed up at the agreed-upon location for the appointment with the officer and got right to the heart of the matter, as he always did. This was it: His team had stopped and apprehended a group of drug traffickers who had entered the nation from Ethiopia with, according to him, 25kg of cocaine, and they were now in custody.
According to his proposal, he and his crew would take 15kg of cocaine and leave the remaining 10kg for the prosecution of suspects who had been apprehended with the illicit narcotic in Enugu. In the interim, the stolen cocaine will be replaced with a dummy worth 15kg to keep the situation under control. His NDLEA officer was tasked with persuading personnel from the FCT Command to join in on the fun as well.
That was a tall order, as anyone who has been following the NDLEA’s renewed drug war since January 18, 2021, knows, because our officers and men have renewed their commitment to the fight against illicit drugs, and what Kyari was asking for could not be accomplished under the new dispensation, and certainly under the new NDLEA, which has been in place since January 18, 2021. Several of our officers were in a similar situation in May 2021, when a narcotics trafficker, Ejiofor Felix Enwereaku, went from Brazil to Nigeria to negotiate the release of a 27.95 kg cargo of cocaine that had been intercepted at the MMIA.
Despite an offer of $24,500 from the drug lord, our officer put his duty ahead of personal gain and declined the offer. We all know how the episode came to a close. That is the guiding principle of the new NDLEA. That was proven once more by our officer, who reported the incident to the authorities.
He and Kyari initiated a WhatsApp conversation at 11:05 a.m. on Monday, January 24, after the Agency gave the officer permission to play along. Throughout the day, the two of them talked. The officer used the word “their” to convey “their” willingness to take part in the game.
The 15kg (which had already been taken out) was shared between the informants who gave information for the seizure and Kyari and his guys from the IRT of the Nigerian Police, according to Kyari at this point in the conversation. According to him, the informants were given 7kg, while his team was handed 8kg, which had already been purchased.
His next offer was to pay the NDLEA team (that is, the officer and the FCT commander) by selling half of the remaining 10kg of cocaine on their behalf, thus decreasing the amount of cocaine available for prosecution to just 5kg. He was then arrested.
On January 24, 2022, the proceeds from the sale of 5kg would amount to N35 million at the black market rate of N570 per dollar, which was the exchange rate on that day (N7 million per kilogram). His contribution to the NDLEA team would amount to approximately $61,400.
He put pressure on our officer to complete the arrangements with the commander of the Federal Capital Territory Command in order to take custody of the drugs and suspects from his troops who were on the ground in Abuja at the earliest opportunity. He was speaking from Lagos, where he was purportedly on a private business trip at the time of the interview.
After that, on the 25th, Kyari offered to send his younger brother to bring the cash while his men delivered the suspects, but our officer declined, stating that he would prefer to deal with him in person and was therefore prepared to wait for him to return from Lagos the following day.
So Kyari arrived in Abuja at 5:23 pm and met with the officer at their initial meeting location, which was also where they had met earlier in the day.
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He explained how his team received the information from a double-crosser who betrayed the traffickers to him, demonstrating a shady connection between law enforcement agents and the drug underworld; he described how, acting on the tip-off, his team departed Abuja for Enugu and arrested the traffickers, who were then instructed to remove part of the consignment and replace it with dummies.
Additionally, he provided instructions on how to identify a remnant of the original cocaine that would be given to NDLEA, which consisted of five original parcels that were marked with red dots.
The rationale for this was to avoid putting the dummies through any kind of testing. He forwarded a photograph of the cocaine package that had been tagged as “original.” Because they were all dummies, there would be no need to test for cocaine in their presence once the 5kg of cocaine had been tested and found to be positive in the presence of the suspects, according to the plan.
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Also with him was the money from the sale of the 5kg share of the NDLEA team, which came to a total of $61, 400 dollars. Our cop, on the other hand, preferred to keep the money in the trunk of his automobile. The automobile, on the other hand, was outfitted with audio and video recorders. And a video was taken of the event, which I will play for you at the conclusion of this briefing as part of the documentation.
Consequently, we have a goldmine of intelligence, hard facts obtained through chats, photographs, video, and a comprehensive transcript of the discussion between him and an NDLEA officer….
This is not the place to get into the weeds of specifics. To hear directly from the source about the level of sleaze perpetrated by Kyari’s gang of rogue law enforcement personnel, the members of which he described as “very, very sharp, and they are quite loyal,” is distressing.
The following is what he said about this rogue crew, which I paraphrase: “I do take good care of them, and this kind of work is done only by that team.”
In addition, it is upsetting to hear him describe the specifics of another comparable procedure that they completed three weeks prior, according to him.
I’m not here to wash his dirty laundry in front of the entire world. But I want us to understand how we arrived at this point in time where we are holding this press briefing, so please bear with me.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has the authority to take custody of suspects and drug consignments recovered by other branches of law enforcement. And there is a common protocol for transferring data in this manner. This was duly observed and followed. While we received delivery of the suspects and the narcotics on February 8, the debriefing of Kyari is the final step in the procedure that must be performed before the investigation can be concluded.
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, DCP Abba Kyari has been invited by the National Democratic Leadership and Education Agency (NDLEA) for a debriefing on Thursday, February 10, through two main routes because there are a slew of questions calling for answers. According to our policy, the invitation was legal and formal in nature. His refusal to answer continued right up until the end of business hours on Friday, February 11. He hasn’t responded to my messages up until this point.
We are a government agency that follows the rules and regulations. We adhere to the rules of the game. In the same vein, we shall not keep suspects for longer than the time limit permitted by law before bringing them before a court of justice. In addition, Kyari must be debriefed prior to the suspects being arraigned in the courtroom.
Because DCP Abba Kyari of the Nigerian Police has refused to comply with the official invitation, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has no choice but to declare him WANTED, effective immediately.
This is something I have to say in public. It is our understanding that NDLEA personnel involved in this inquiry face imminent danger, and we are doing all possible to protect our officers and men in the line of duty.
We are issuing this forceful declaration in response to people who are considering taking damaging action against NDLEA officers and employees. Their actions would only serve to exacerbate their predicament in the event of the murder or injury of officers and men of the NDLEA.
Thank you very much.