Two convicted drug traffickers, Chibunna Umeibe and Emeka Ezenwanne, narrated how officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) allegedly aided them to bypass security checks at the Enugu International Airport before their arrest by the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
The duo were former co-defendants in the ongoing cocaine trial Abba Kyari and four members of the IRT but have since served their two-year jail term.
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They spoke in a video clip initially admitted as “Exhibit D‑3” by Judge Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The NDLEA is prosecuting Mr Kyari and four suspended IRT members for dealing in 21.35kg of cocaine between 19 and 25 January 2022.
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Other defendants in the case include Sunday J. Ubua, an assistant commissioner of police, Bawa James, an assistant suprintendent of police; Simon Agirgba, a police inspector, and John Nuhu, also an inspector, all officers of the IRT.
The prosecution had closed its case, prompting the defence open theirs.
The video played in court was tendered on 28 January by El‑John Nwoke, a police inspector, subpoenaed to testify as the second defence witness.
Mr Nwoke had told the court that Messrs Umeibe and Ezenwanne, after their arrest by the IRT officers, confessed to the police investigating team how NDLEA operatives allegedly shielded them at the airport on 19 January 2022, before the police arrested them.
He added that a recording of the session was downloaded onto a DVD.
When Mr Kyari’s lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), sought to tender the video as evidence, the NDLEA’s lawyer, Joseph Sunday, objected, and the judge adjourned for a ruling.
Following the ruling on 27 February, the judge fixed Monday, 16 March, for the video to be played.
Convicts’ video alleged NDLEA aided their bypass
On Monday, Mr Kyari’s defence lawyer Abdul Mohammed, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), applied that the video, tendered through second defence witness, who is a subpoenaed witness, be played in open court.
Mr Mohammed also told the court that the recording was about 27 minutes and two seconds long. He reminded the court that the two traffickers had testified as the sixth and seventh prosecution witnesses.
The NDLEA’s lawyer did not object, and the judge directed that the video be played.
The recording showed Messrs Umeibe and Ezenwanne standing and responding to questions from a police interrogation team.
At the beginning, one officer warned that “whatever you say in this video shall be tendered as evidence against you in any court of law.”
On bypassing airport checks, Mr Ezenwanne said their photographs were taken and sent to contacts who he believed forwarded them to NDLEA officers at the airport to facilitate passage. “My picture will be sent to the NDLEA officers at the airport,” he said.
Mr Umeibe added that photographs were usually sent ahead before departing Addis Ababa so officers at the airport would recognise them. According to him, although their bags were opened during checks, they were “not properly” searched.
Mr Umeibe, who said he was 29 at the time, told investigators he was lured into drug trafficking by a friend identified as Bassey, citing financial difficulties.
He admitted that the police arrested him with cocaine at Enugu airport and confirmed that he trafficked the substance into Nigeria from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
He said he earned N500,000 from his first trip in 2021 and expected another N500,000 from the trip that led to his arrest.
Mr Umeibe further explained that after arriving in Nigeria, they usually travelled by night bus to Lagos, where a contact would collect the drugs.
“We don’t know who will collect the drugs,” he said, adding that they would call a contact after leaving the airport to arrange the handover.
He also claimed he did not know the quantity of cocaine transported, but described how it was packaged before the journey.
Similarly, Mr Ezenwanne, who said he was 45 and held a secondary school certificate, confirmed he was arrested at the Enugu airport with cocaine.
Although he had travelled abroad about four times, he said the trip that led to his arrest was his second time trafficking cocaine. “The other times, I came back without any cocaine,” he said.
He noted that he was previously involved in the clothing business before being lured into trafficking by friends in Brazil.
He confessed that after delivering drugs in Lagos during an earlier trip, he used the proceeds to settle debts and support his family.
Both men acknowledged that trafficking cocaine was illegal and harmful.
After the video was played, the defence lawyer, Mr Mohammed, requested an adjournment to compare the transcript with the recording before continuing with the witness examination.
Judge Nwite adjourned the matter until 20 and 21 April for continuation of the trial.
How the two convicted traffickers were linked to Abba Kyari’s case
Messrs Umeibe and Ezenwanne were originally co-defendants in the case when it began in 2022, but were removed from the case after their conviction which concluded their trial.
They were arrested at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu with cocaine, later pleaded guilty, and have served their jail terms.
NDLEA alleged that after the traffickers were arrested by the police team led by Mr Kyari, who allegedly tampered with the cocaine recovered from the traffickers and failed to hand a part of it over to the agency.
In one of the charges, NDLEA alleged that Mr Kyari and the four IRT operatives tampered with 21.35kg of cocaine by removing 17.55kg and “substituting the same with some other substance,” an offence contrary to section 14(b) of the NDLEA Act.
The prosecutors also accused Mr Kyari, in a count featuring him as the sole defendant, of attempting to obstruct NDLEA by offering $61,400 to a senior anti-narcotics operative to prevent the testing of the 17.55kg of cocaine.
Case distinct from dismissed asset declaration trial
The cocaine case is different from the asset declaration trial, which ended recently.
In that case, Judge James Omotosho, on 6 March, dismissed charges against Mr Kyari and his brothers on the grounds that NDLEA failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
The asset declaration case involved 23 counts, alleging that Mr Kyari and his brothers, Mohammed and Ali, failed to fully disclose their assets. The parties had made final arguments in December.
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