Cash evidence against Abba Kyari presented in court, bail application hearing postponed

The Federal High Court of Abuja, has been told that agents of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) allegedly received $61,400 in cash from Abba Kyari.

In addition to other related offences that violate and are punishable under the NDLEA Act, Mr. Kyari, a suspended deputy commissioner of police, and four members of the police’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Sunday Ubua, Bawa James, Simon Agirgba, and John Nuhu, are being accused of illegally dealing in 21.35kg of cocaine between January 19 and 25, 2022.

The cash and 24 packs of cocaine that the prosecution attorney, Joseph Sunday, presented through his third witness, Peter Joshua, an agent of the anti-narcotics agency in the Abuja office, were accepted by the court at the resumed trial on Thursday.

According to Mr. Joshua’s testimony before the court, the foreign currency was delivered to him on January 25 after he weighed and performed preliminary tests on wraps of cocaine that had been taken from two convicted drug dealers, Chibunna Umeibe and Emeka Ezenwane.

Read also:Claim Abba Kyari was attacked by inmates false, reckless —NCoS

Since March 7, Messrs. Umeibe and Ezenwanne, who were detained in January at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, have admitted to bringing cocaine into Nigeria. The two individuals were each given a two-year prison term by the court.

Nevertheless, Mr. Kyari and four other co-defendants in the case denied any involvement in the narcotics crime despite being shown on film purportedly trying to bribe NDLEA employees to sabotage the investigation.

In his argument, Mr. Ikpeazu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the attorney for Mr. Kyari, warned the judge that the recent attack on the Abuja detention facility where Mr. Kyari is being kept put his client’s life in danger.

Mr. Ikpeazu promised Mr. Kyari wouldn’t skip bail and that he wouldn’t obstruct the inquiry because the prosecution had informed the court that the suit’s investigations were complete.

Mr. Joseph, an attorney for the NDLEA, requested that the court deny the current bail request as well as the bail requests for Mr. Kyari and his co-defendants.

The judge fixed August 30 for ruling on the bail applications.

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