MEDIATRACNET
The discredited Deputy Commissioner of Police and former head of the Police Intelligence Response Team, Abba Kyari, who was accused of facilitating an illicit drug deal into Nigeria, was on Monday handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) by the police.
Kyari was arrested on Monday after the NDLEA released a video footage of him trying to bribe one of the agency’s operatives after he was accused of attempting to facilitate a 25 kilogrammes cocaine deal.
The anti-drugs agency arrested Kyari along with four other police officers also indicted in connection with the crime.
Prior to his arrest, the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police was declared wanted by the NDLEA following his refusal to honour several invitations for questioning about his involvement with the drugs syndicate.
However, following a report by the Chairman of the NDLEA, Buba Marwa, to President Muhammadu Buhari on his escapades, the police authorities were directed to comb him out from his hiding and hand over to the agency for interrogation and possible prosecution.
A senior Presidency source said on Tuesday Kyari’s arrest may be the beginning of his journey to the U.S. to answer to pending charges by the Federal Bureau of Investigations against him over the Hushpuppi $1.1billion fraud saga.
The sources who requested that his identity should not be revealed because of the sensitive nature of the matter said the Federal Government was already perfecting the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) with the U.S. on his extradition any moment.
Already, the U.S. have forwarded to the Nigerian government volumes of documents that indicted him over the case, along with evidence showing there was a prima facie case against the erstwhile super cop.
The Federal Government, the source added, has now resolved to hand Kyari over to the U.S. whenever he was done with the NDLEA.
Although the government was footdragging on its final decision to yield to pressures to approve his extradition to the U.S., Kyari’s latest involvement with a notorious drugs syndicate operating along the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drugs route has not helpful to his case.
The NDLEA has describes Kyari’s arrest, along with his accomplices as a significant breakthough in its quest to uncover the face of those behind the thriving illicit drug business in Nigeria.
