Drug Trafficking: Abba Kyari May Face Life Imprisonment

Suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, may face life imprisonment if found guilty of the allegations levelled against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

Recall that the Nigeria Police Force arrested Kyari and handed him over to the agency over links with drug trafficking.

NDLEA had claimed that Kyari was caught on camera handing over $61,400 in cash to compromise its operative.

The NDLEA Act stipulates punishments ranging from jail term, life imprisonment, and property forfeiture for the allegations levelled against the former head of the IGP Intelligence Response Team.

According to Section 20, Part II, Sub-section 14 of the NDLEA, it recommends a term not less than 15 years and not exceeding 25 years.

Part of the Act reads, “Any person who:
a. Incites, promises or induces any other person by any means whatsoever to commit any of the offences referred to in this Act: or
b. Conspires with, aids abets, counsels, attempts to commit or is an accessory to any act or offence referred to in this Act.
Shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and liable on conviction to be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not less than fifteen years and not exceeding 25 years.

Part of the Act reads, “Any person who:
a. Incites, promises or induces any other person by any means whatsoever to commit any of the offences referred to in this Act: or
b. Conspires with, aids abets, counsels, attempts to commit or is an accessory to any act or offence referred to in this Act.
Shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and liable on conviction to be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not less than fifteen years and not exceeding 25 years.

Tampering with drug
Any person who unlawfully removes conceals, destroys or in any way tampers with the drug popularly known as cocaine, LSD, heroin or any other similar drug seized from any person or otherwise in the possession of the Agency or any authorized person shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and
liable on conviction to be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 25 years.

Sale and distribution
1. Any person who, without lawful authority (the proof of which shall lie on him) commits any of the following offences, that is to say
a. Engages in the production, manufacture, extraction preparation, offering for sale, distribution, sale, delivery on any terms whatsoever, brokerage, dispatch, dispatch in transit, transportation, importation or exportation of any narcotic drug or any psychotropic substance contrary to the provisions of the 1961 Convention and its
Protocols, or the 1971 Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic substances 1989.

f. Engages in the manufacture, transportation or distribution of equipment, materials or of any substance listed in the Second Schedule to this Act knowing that such
equipment, material or substance are to be used in or for the illicit cultivation, production or manufacture of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances;
g. Engages in the management, organization or financing of any of the offences under paragraphs (a) to (f) of this subsection
2. The penalties for offences under subsection (1) of this section shall
a. In respect of an offence under paragraphs (a), (b), (d), (e), (f), and (h), by imprisonment for life.

Forfeited Property
For the avoidance of doubt and without any further assurance than this Act, all the properties of a person convicted of an offence under this Act and already the subject of an interim order shall be forfeited to the Federal Government.