THE National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has said its officers did not work with drug cartels linked with suspended head of the police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) Abba Kyari.
The police had in a statement by its spokesperson Olumuyiwa Adejobi alleged that some NDLEA officers at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, worked with drug traffickers and received bribes from the cartel.
According to the police, the NDLEA operatives assisted drug couriers that come into the country through at the airport.
NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi denied the police’s allegations in a statement released on Wednesday.
Babafemi said NDLEA’s preliminary investigations and Kyari’s confession revealed that the cartel was working with his (Kyari) team and not the agency’s officers.
“To correct 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.
“The agency wishes to quote from the transcript of Abba Kyari’s recorded conversation with our undercover officer and a portion of ASP James Bawa’s statement to the police as documented in the police investigation report, a copy of which was made available to the agency, to state that it’s an established fact that it’s the Abba Kyari’s team that was contacted by the cartel and without doubt the records clearly show how their ring works.
“Recall that after NDLEA requested for Kyari and others for interrogation, they were questioned by the police, after which they were handed over along with the report of their interrogation.
“According to the police investigation report, ASP James Bawa in his statement to the police reveals that “he was called by an informant identified as IK from Brazil who told him that a drug courier will be arriving on board Ethiopian Airlines in Enugu.
“He explained further that a pointer from IK, the Brazil based informant met with him at about 1420hrs on 19th January 2022 outside the airport and showed him a picture of the courier.
“Subsequently, they sighted the suspect as he exited the airport terminal after all arrival clearance formalities, and he was arrested with another associate”.
Babafemi added, “The above no doubt establishes who the cartel was relating with and their modus operandi. Again, this is to correct inaccuracies in some reports and assure that the agency will not deviate from an evidence-based investigation that will spare nobody found complicit.”
The agency added that it was committed to evidence-based investigations, and would not be deterred by mischief makers.
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