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More facts have emerged on how suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, was working in cahoots with drug dealers in Nigeria for several years until his recent arrest.
A reliable source in the Nigeria Police Force, who preferred to remain anonymous, in a chat with THISDAY on Sunday, disclosed that the ‘super cop’ whom the federal government last week announced commencement of plans to extradite to the United States of America to face fraud allegations, was allegedly operating with drug cartels from all over the country.
The source, however, shed more light on the modus operandi of Kyari and his group.
“They drug dealers usually notify him when these drugs are coming from different parts of the world into the country. Kyari would then go to the NDLEA territory, where the drugs were expected, pretend to arrest the culprits whom he usually threaten with prosecution. It was all staged.
“The expectation was he would hand them over to NDLEA for prosecution but that never happened. The next is he will release the culprits and that will be the end of the matter. And because he was so connected, the matter dies. This continued for years until Buba Marwa was appointed.
“So, the intelligence on Abba Kyari had been there all along, but because he was seen as a ‘super cop,’ he was well-respected and well-connected nothing happened. And again, the Police had been giving him cover over the years, so nothing was done. If not for Marwa, he would have continued his nefarious acts,” the source added.
Furthermore, the source alleged that Kyari had young men at the major ports and borders across the country, who would always tip him off whenever cocaine or any banned substances entered into the country and in most cases, he would strike deals with them and let them go.
According to him, “Kyari was actively into the drug business and was working with all the drug dealers and cartels. And I can say that the Police just turned a blind eye which begs the question about their involvement. He was their ‘good boy,’ and was probably settling them and so, they turned blind eyes to whatever he was doing.
“I am talking about the top echelon of the police. They knew what he was doing, I mean, they cannot claim not to know. He was so brazen in his nefarious activities that it is highly unlikely his bosses didn’t know about some of the illegal activities he was involved in,” the source added.
The federal government last week commenced moves to extradite Kyari to the US. Also, last week, the NDLEA, which currently has Kyari in its custody following his arrest for alleged illicit drug dealing, initiated a court process against him.
By this development, Kyari, four of his colleagues in the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT), and two others would be arraigned any moment on drug-related charges.
NDLEA filed an eight-count criminal charge against the defendants at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The implication of the NDLEA court action against Kyari is that he cannot be extradited to the US, even though the federal government has commenced the extradition process.
Kyari, a once celebrated officer of the Nigeria Police, is currently enmeshed in various criminal allegations in connection with cases for which the “super cop” had previously won accolades for fighting.
Following the arrest and imprisonment of Abass Ramon, a.k.a Hushpuppi, over a $1.1 million wire fraud and Ramon’s alleged implication of Kyari, who was then Commander of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), the United States, had requested the extradition of Kyari to explain his alleged involvement in the crime.
Meanwhile, operatives of the NDLEA had disclosed that they intercepted no fewer than 294,440 tablets of Tramadol, Diazepam, Swinol, Rohyphnol and Exol-5 along with other illicit drugs in major operations in some parts of the country.
The operations which were conducted in the last one week in Delta, Bauchi, and at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, also saw a total of 41 suspects arrested in raids in Abuja and Kaduna state.
A statement by the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, yesterday, disclosed that in Delta, one Christian Onah, 42, was arrested at Isele-Azagba junction with 23,160 tablets of Swinol and 66,000 tablets of Rohypnol, both weighing 71.6 kilogrammes while conveying the drugs from Benin, Edo State capital to Onitsha, in Anambra State.
The statement disclosed that in another arrest, a commercial vehicle from Onitsha going to Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, was intercepted at Abraka junction, Asaba, the Delta State capital, last Wednesday with 78,000 capsules of Tramadol; 5,000 tablets of Diazepam and 97,500 tablets of Exol-5, while a suspect, Olaniyan Sunday, 42, was arrested.
Babafemi also revealed that a female suspect, Patricia Saduwa, 42, was arrested with 233.7 kilogrammes cannabis during a raid operation in Orogun community close to Abbi town in Kwale Local Government Area of Delta State last Friday, adding that the raid of another house in the community same day led to the seizure of 123.7 kilogrammes cannabis while the owner is still at large.
According to him, in Bauchi State, operatives acting on credible intelligence, raided a warehouse at Gadar-Maiwa, Ningi Local Government Area of the state, where 542.5 kilogrammes of cannabis; 6,800 tablets of Diazepam and 12,400 tablets of Exol-5 were recovered last Wednesday.
Babafemi further disclosed that at least, 30 suspects were arrested at Malali area of Kaduna during raids aimed at destroying drug joints across the state.
A suspect, Usman Dahiru was arrested with 24 kilogrammes cannabis concealed in two sacks of used clothes last Thursday, along Abuja-Kaduna express road, where another suspect, Abdulrazaq Rabi’u was arrested with 100,000 counterfeit US dollars.
On the same day, operatives in Anambra State, recovered 38,862 red star cartridges along with 13 cartons of illicit drugs, when they raided a warehouse in Onitsha. In Abuja, FCT, 11 suspects were arrested and 81.2 kilogrammes of drugs seized in a major raid operation last Saturday, on black spots like Torabora, Karu Abattoir, Jabi motor park and Forest.
At the Lagos airport, the statement revealed that one Audu Muhammed, was arrested at the SAHCO export shed last Saturday with 1.550 kilogrammes cannabis concealed in Golden Morn cereal packs meant for Dubai, UAE.
“Two days earlier, on Thursday, a suspect, Olalekan Ayinde, was also arrested at the export shed with 4,980 capsules of Tramadol; 600 capsules of Rohypnol and some designer drugs concealed inside locust beans and hidden among food items for export to South Africa.
“A principal suspect in the importation of 451,807 Captagon tablets weighing 79.119 kilogrammes in September, 2021 at Apapa Seaport Lagos, Nwoku Uche, 36, has been taken into custody after six months on the run,” it revealed.
Known as Jihadist drug, the consignment was the first ever recorded seizure of Captagon in West and Central African Sub-Region.
“In his statements, Uche claimed to have met the person, who gave him the job on LinkedIn while he was paid N5 million to clear the container. He then used a third party bank account to process the Form M for the clearing of the illicit consignment,” it added.
However, commending officers and men of the Delta, Bauchi, Kaduna, Anambra, FCT, Apapa port and MMIA Commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd), was quoted in the statement to have charged them and their compatriots across the country to remain vigilant and on the offensive until all drug cartels in Nigeria were completely dismantled.