According to police, a highly decorated police officer in Nigeria was detained after allegations that he is a member of a global drug cartel.
Abba Kyari is now accused of participating in a cocaine plot after already being suspended for allegedly aiding Hushpuppi, a self-described fraudster, in laundering money in the US.
According to officials, Mr. Kyari asked a coworker to assist him in stealing some cocaine from a haul.
According to reports, he was seen on camera giving a man $61,400 (£45,400) in cash.
He hasn’t responded to the accusations yet.
Hours after being listed as wanted by Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), which accused him of being “a member of a drug cartel that operates the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline,” Mr. Kyari was apprehended.
Hours after being listed as wanted by Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), which accused him of being “a member of a drug cartel that operates the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline,” Mr. Kyari was apprehended.
Following a “high-level discreet” investigation, he was detained on Monday along with four other officers: Sunday Ubuah, Bawa James, Simon Agrigba, and John Nuhu, according to a police statement. It also stated that John Umoru, another officer, was still “at large.”
A number of anti-drug officers at the international airport of the south-eastern city of Enugu were discovered to be “on the payroll” of the same cartel as Mr. Kyari, Nigerian police said as part of their investigations.
One-time ‘super cop’ Mr Kyari, 46, once had a reputation for being a “super cop” who investigated big criminal cases.
After his team saved three kidnapped schoolgirls in Lagos in 2016, he was awarded the presidential medal of courage by Mr. Buhari.
He received honors from the Lagos State government as well, taking home the top gallantry prize three years in a row from 2011 to 2013. He was also well-known for his friendships with politicians and famous people.
However, he was fired from the force in August of last year after the US filed an indictment against him over claims that he had helped Instagram celebrity Hushpuppi—real name Ramon Abbas—pay Nigerian police officers.
Hushpuppi, who had 2.4 million Instagram followers, admitted guilt of money laundering after being extradited from Dubai last year and entering the US.
The purported plot
The NDLEA charged Mr. Kyari with approaching the unnamed police officer last month by allegedly asserting that he and his team had stopped and apprehended drug traffickers bringing 25 kg of cocaine into Nigeria from Ethiopia.
The law enforcement agency charged that Mr. Kyari planned to steal 15kg of the cocaine haul discovered in Enugu and leave behind a “dummy” weighing the same amount. The agency claimed that it then gave the “green light” to its officer to play along.
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The agency also charged Mr. Kyari with asking the undercover NDLEA officer “to persuade men of the FCT [Federal Capital Territory] Command to play along as well” in the same statement released on Monday.
The NDLEA claims that Mr. Kyari was then captured on camera giving the undercover officer whose car was equipped with cameras and microphones $61,400, the promised proceeds from the sale of 5kg of cocaine.
Source: BBC
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