A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday granted permission to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, to keep the suspended DCP, Abba Kyari for two more weeks to enable the agency complete its investigation.
Justice Zainab Abubakar issued the order for Kyari’s further detention while ruling in an ex-parte application argued by the NDLEA counsel, Mr Mike Kassa.
The NDLEA had accused and detained Kyari of being an accomplice to a drug ring, which operates on the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria route, peddling deadly substances, notably cocaine. NDLEA had claimed that Kyari was caught on camera handing over $61,400 in cash to bribe its operative and facilitate the release of 17 KG of seized cocaine.
The NDLEA had, in the application, pleaded for more time to detain Kyari on the ground that the hard drug trafficking allegations against the suspect were complex and may require the agency travelling outside the shore of the country to make some clarifications.
The counsel asked the court to grant the detention extension in the interest of justice and to be fair to the suspect too through diligent investigation.
In a short ruling, Justice Abubakar ordered that Abba Kyari be detained for another 14 days.
The judge however ordered that the 14 days further detention should start counting from February 22.
Details later.
