Convicted Drug Trafficker Reveals How Abba Kyari-led IRT Officers Threatened To Kill Him, His Partner

Chibunna Patrick Umeibe, a convicted drug trafficker in the trial of the disgraced “Super Cop”, DCP Abba Kyari and others, has made some revelations.

He revealed that the officers of Kyari-led Intelligence Response Team (IRT) threatened to kill him and his partner.

Umeube made the revelation while speaking in court on Friday when he revealed how a whistleblower from Brazil informed the police IRT about their movement.

He was cross-examined by counsel to Kyari and two others, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Recall that Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne were arrested upon arrival at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, on January 19 this year after smuggling cocaine into the country from Ethiopia.

The duo were sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to the counts preferred against them by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Meanwhile, their term would run concurrently as part of their plea bargain agreement, thus, they agreed to stand as NDLEA’s witness in the trial of Kyari and others including ACP Sunday Ubia, ASP Bawa James, Insp. Simon Agirigba and Insp. John Nuhu, who stand as 2nd to 5th defendants.

Speaking to the NDLEA’s lawyer, Joseph Sunday, Umeibe said that at the Enugu airport, he passed health officials who checked COVID-19 records as well as Immigration officers.

But “After Immigration, I met two young men in suits. They took my international passport and asked where I was coming from, I told them I was coming from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They checked my passport and referred me to a checking counter.

“I met about four or five men. They collected my passport and said, ‘young man, as you are looking fresh, do New Year for us’. I gave them N5,000.”

He said while he headed towards Ezenwanne who was waiting for him at the parking lot, a man in mufti accosted him and requested his passport.

“I asked him what for? He put his hand inside his pocket and brought out a police ID card. Other policemen were standing at my back on mufti,” he added.

Speaking further, Umeibe said the policemen then brought out their jackets with IRT inscriptions and arrested him and Ezenwanne.

Confirming that the team was led by ASP James who supervised the journey to the IRT Office in Abuja, Umeibe said that “As we were coming towards that Igala road (in Kogi), my hope was that they would leave us on the road, and carry the market (cocaine) and go.

“I started begging the man (James) again, ‘please sir, help us. He said if we disturbed him again, he would waste (kill) us; that we never reach people that they used to waste.”

He further informed the court that he kept quiet after the stern warning by the IRT operative.

Reacting to Umeibe’s revelation, the counsel to NDLEA, Sunday informed Justice Nwite that closed-circuit television (CCT) footage of what happened at the Enugu airport proved that NDLEA agents were not involved in the clearance of the convicts.

In his decision, Justice Nwite adjourned the matter until December 1 and 2 for trial continuation.