Court Grants NDLEA’s Plea To Detain Abba Kyari

Federal High Court in Abuja has granted the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA’s plea to detain the suspended DCP, Abba Kyari for two more weeks.

Gatekeepers News reports that Justice Zainab Abubakar on Tuesday permitted the NDLEA to keep Kyari for two more weeks to enable the agency to complete its investigation.

Gatekeepers News earlier reported that the NDLEA accused and detained Kyari of being an accomplice to a drug ring.

The drug ring which operates on the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria route, peddles deadly substances, notably cocaine.

NDLEA further alleged that Kyari was caught on camera handing over $61,400 in cash to bribe its operative and facilitate the release of 17 KG of seized cocaine.

In its application dated 15th February 2022, suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/111/2022, the agency sought the leave of the court to detain the suspects in NDLEA custody for 14 days pending the conclusion of the investigation.

The others suspects include ACP Sunday J. Ubia; ASP James Bawa; Inspector Simon Agirigba; Inspector John Nuhu; Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alfonsus Ezenwanne.

The Spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi who made this known in a statement said the NDLEA in an affidavit supporting the motion, stated that “the 6th and 7th respondents (Umeibe and Ezenwanne) confessed upon their arrest in Enugu that they imported the seized cocaine through Addis-Ababa to Enugu on 19th January, 2022.”

Babafemi while quoting the affidavit supporting the motion said “the 1st to 5th respondents (Kyari, Ubia, Bawa, Agirigba and Nuhu) are police officers who carried out the arrest of the 6th and 7th respondents and transferred them to NDLEA for further investigation.

“That investigation by the NDLEA revealed that the 1st to 5th respondents have compromised the whole operation and were involved in the importation, trafficking, and dealing and also tampered with the recovered cocaine.

“That the 1st to 5th respondents have volunteered their statements upon preliminary investigation, which has shown complicity in the case. Copies of statements are hereby attached and marked Annexure NDLEA 4,5,6,7,8, & 9 respectively.

“That the investigation will take some time as there are complicated dimensions of the case that require follow-up and unravelling. That the investigation is likely to extend to foreign countries, where some people linked to this trans-national drug trafficking activities reside.

“That it is in line with the above that the Applicant is applying to the Honourable Court for a period of 14 days in the first instance to detain the respondents to enable it carry out its investigation successfully.”

In the ruling, Justice Abubakar ordered that the 14 days will start counting from February 22.