The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, didn’t shut down satellite units of the Intelligence Response Team and Special Tactical Squads in the country, acting Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, has said.
Adejobi made this clarification in a telephone chat with The PUNCH on Tuesday while reacting to reports (not by The PUNCH) that the police boss ordered the closure of IRT formations nationwide following the indictment of suspended Head of the IRT, DCP Abba Kyari, in a narcotics deal.
“The report is untrue, the IGP didn’t shut IRT and tactical squads in the country,” Adejobi told our correspondent.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, had chronicled how Kyari belonged to a drug cartel that operates the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline.
The anti-narcotics agency said Kyari contacted one of its officers in Abuja and struck a deal to secure the release of a total of 25kg seized cocaine and offered $61,400 to NDLEA officers who played along until his arrest.
The NDLEA also said it had photo and video evidence against Kyari.
The IGP in a statement through the FPRO had corroborated the NDLEA’s findings, saying incontrovertible evidence indicted Kyari in the drug crimes.
He said the affected police officers have been transferred to the NDLEA for prosecution. “The concerned officers include DCP Abba Kyari, ACP Sunday Ubuah, ASP Bawa James, ASP John Umoru (at large), Inspr. Simon Agrigba and John Nuhu. They have all been, accordingly, handed over today 14th February 2022 to the NDLEA authorities,” he said.
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