ABBA KYARI CASE :  Video Evidence Shown In Court, Indicts NDLEA Over Cocaine Smuggling At Airports. Watch Videos Below

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Monday screened a video evidence tendered by the Nigeria Police through Police officer Inspector El-John Nwoke, attached to the Force Headquarters, revealing how operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) allegedly helped drug traffickers at airports.

The video evidence was in support of an affidavit in the case instituted against DCP Abba Kyari, former head of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and Sunday J. Ubua, an Assistant Commissioner of Police; Bawa James, an Assistant Superintendent of Police; Simon Agirgba, an Inspector; and John Nuhu, also an Inspector—all officers of the Police IRT.

Before the last hearing, Inspector El-John Nwoke, second defence witness (DW-2), was led in evidence by Kyari’s lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, and narrated how NDLEA operatives allegedly shielded two drug traffickers—Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne—at the Enugu Airport on January 19, 2022, before the police arrested them.

The two now-convicted traffickers were arrested by the IRT with a 21.55kg consignment of cocaine at the Enugu Airport.

The incident took a dramatic twist when police later declared Kyari, then head of the IRT, and others wanted and subsequently charged them to court

 Nwoke said the two drug traffickers told him that they arrived in Nigeria from Ethiopia with the substance suspected to be cocaine.

“They told me the substance was given to them and that it was not their first or second time of carrying it,” he said.

The DW-2 said the convicts told him that they had been in the business for a long time but were surprised at how the police arrested them.

The witness said they told him that any time they brought in the substance through the airport, the NDLEA officers on duty would have been aware of their coming.

“I asked them how the officers know they are the people coming with this substance.

“They said when they are coming with this ‘market’ from Ethiopia to Nigeria, the people who give them the job will take their pictures and send them to the NDLEA officers on duty at the airport.

“So when they arrive at the airport, the NDLEA officers have their pictures and the type of clothes they are wearing,” the witness told the court.

The witness further said that the convicts told him that as soon as the NDLEA officers sight them, they would put up a smiling face as a code to the officers on duty.

“Then the NDLEA officers will unzip the bag as if they are conducting a check on it and zip it back, meaning the bag has been checked and cleared,” he said.

The witness said Umeibe and Ezenwanne told him that that was how they had been operating before their arrest shortly after they were cleared by the NDLEA officers on that day.

According to him, the convicts said those who sent them did not tell them the quantity of the substance they trafficked and that the substance was usually called “market.”

 “When I asked them who they usually deliver the ‘market’ to, they told me the recipients know how to receive the message but they often go to them on a night bus, provided they arrive successfully.

“What I am saying is also detailed in the video where they made confessional statements.

 “There are so many questions in that video, though I can’t remember all,” he told the court.

Ikpeazu then asked the witness if he had a downloaded version of the video recording and he responded in the affirmative.

The witness also admitted that he was served with a subpoena directing him to come and testify in court.

After the witness told the lawyer that a copy of the subpoena, the DVD and a certificate of compliance were with him in court, Ikpeazu sought to tender them in evidence.

At the resumed hearing in February, the court ordered that the video evidence allegedly indicting NDLEA operatives be played.

On Monday, Justice Emeka Nwite ordered the video to be played while the witness, DW-2, sat in the witness box.

The court heard during the screening of the video how NDLEA allegedly helped the two drug traffickers through the Enugu Airport before the police trailed and subsequently arrested them.

Ezenwanne, who spoke in the 27-minute, two-second video recorded by the police on January 20, 2022, said, “I am aware it was cocaine” and “this is the second time I am carrying cocaine,” when asked if he knew what he carried and how many times.

He revealed that he first carried cocaine in 2021. “I stayed at the airport,” and “N500,000 was received for the 2021” cocaine smuggling.

He said, “At the airport, NDLEA will clear us then we will enter the night bus and call the person we will hand over the drugs to.”

He added, “We don’t know who will collect the drugs,” when asked who usually collected the drugs from them.

Umeibe, on his part, said, “When you come to an airport, they will snap your picture and send it to the person that sent us.

“The person will now send it to NDLEA. He will send it to them.

“When we get to their checking point, they will know that we are the ones. They will open the bag, do a normal search and say we should go.

“They don’t search us properly. They won’t say anything if they see anything because they are aware that we are coming,” he said in the video played in court.

The case was adjourned to May 20,2926.