Why we need to hold Abba Kyari for 14 more days – NDLEA

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it requested to detain Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, and six others under investigation for their alleged involvement in a 25-kilogramme cocaine deal for 14 days because there are complicated dimensions to the case.

Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Tuesday, said these dimensions would require follow-up and unravelling as the investigation is likely to extend to foreign countries where some people are linked to transnational drug trafficking activities reside.

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and presided over by Justice Zainab Dimka Abubakar on Tuesday granted an application by the agency to detain Abba Kyari and six others.

Justice Abubakar granted the NDLEA’s prayer and directed that the agency should at the expiration of the 14- day detention order either seek extension, file a charge against the suspects or arraign them before the court.

Read Also: JUST IN: Court orders NDLEA to detain Abba Kyari, six others pending investigation

The suspects affected by the order include: DCP Abba Kyari; ACP Sunday J. Ubia; ASP James Bawa; Inspector Simon Agirigba; Inspector John Nuhu; Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alfonsus Ezenwanne.

In an affidavit supporting the motion, the NDLEA 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.

It further 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,” the NDLEA stated