By Amid allegations of his collaboration with a self-confessed international fraudster Hushpuppi, the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, on Monday, landed himself in a bigger mess after he was declared wanted by the National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over links with an international drug cartel.
The spokesperson of the anti-narcotic agency, Femi Babafemi, during a press conference, disclosed how Kyari and men of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) which he headed arrested some drug traffickers who arrived in the country from Ethiopia with 25kg of cocaine.
The NDLEA also alleged that Kyari and his team proposed to take 15kg of the seized cocaine for themselves.
Hours after, the police arrested the embattled cop alongside four others for “tampering with narcotic exhibits and unprofessional infractions”.
In a statement where it confirmed the arrest, the police, however, claimed that some NDLEA officers have strong ties with the international drug cartel involved in the case, urging the anti-drug agency to investigate its officers.
In reaction, the NDLEA, on Wednesday, said it will not spare anyone found complicit in the case. The anti-drug agency, in a statement, said it remains committed to evidence-based investigation and it will not be deterred by “any misrepresentation of facts”.
The NDLEA also corrected “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”, adding that no area of the investigation established the relationship betwen the cartel and its officers.
Before his latest ordeal, Kyari had been indicted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in a $1.1 million scam over his alleged collaboration with a self-confessed international fraudster, Hushpuppi.
Though he had denied the allegations, the embattled cop was relieved of his appointment as the officer in charge of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) as recommended by the probe panel set up by the police authorities.
