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More senior police operatives and other security agents might be arrested following the detention of DCP Abba Kyari, the suspended commander of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) at the Force Intelligence Bureau of the Nigeria Police Force, over drug-related offences, credible sources said on Monday.
Kyari was on Monday declared wanted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for selling cocaine consignment seized by IRT operatives from drug barons at the Enugu airport in January this year.
Abba Kyari
His involvement in the deal had raised questions in many quarters considering that he was under suspension last year because of his involvement in other criminal activities. According to Daily Trust, there was a “high profile complicity” in the latest incident involving the widely celebrated super cop who the NDLEA said has strong ties with cross-border drug barons using his position in the police as cover. “Serious infractions have been established against Kyari in relation to drug crimes but the matter was being foot dragged at the police headquarters in Abuja and commands in some states.
“People would be picked in other high profile places because the secret has been busted,” one of the sources said.
“The investigation of Kyari on the latest and other pending issues were being deliberately delayed by powerful forces because beyond the suspended deputy commissioner of police and the few officers whose names have been mentioned, there are some senior officers that are directly involved and they know they would be implicated, hence the tactical delay and needless technicalities in handling the matter,” he said. The latest scandal involving the suspended Kyari came to the fore on Monday, a few hours after the super cop was declared wanted by the NDLEA over his involvement in a 25 kilograms cocaine deal.
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has already handed him over to the NDLEA. The arrest of Kyari dominated discussion at the Force Headquarters Abuja yesterday. Before Monday’s development, the issue of the drug deal involving him and the NDLEA operatives was only known to the top echelon of the NPF, who were in receipt of the communication by the anti-drug agency.
It was gathered that the issue was discussed in hush tones by both officers and rank and file of the force on Monday.
Meanwhile, while his fans in the police force expressed shock and disbelief, those who have been questioning his conduct said they saw it coming. One of the officers said the arrest and subsequent handover of Kyari to NDLEA for probe had caused serious confusion in the force.
“It is an institutional indictment. In the police force, especially among us the junior officers we see Oga Kyari as a role model in view of the various breakthroughs he had made in the arrest of criminals across the country. “The drug thing happened while we are waiting to see how the Hushpuppi scandal will end,” the officer said.
Another police officer said the deal between Kyari and the NDLEA was not unusual. “This is not unusual. Seized items are sold including hemp and other drugs. It is you people that are expressing shock. There are bad elements in both the police, NDLEA and other security agencies, especially at our airports,” he said.
