The NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retired), and the NCS Comptroller General, Col. Hameed Ali, signed the MoU on Tuesday at the NDLEA Headquarters in Abuja (retd.).

The MoU aims to assist both agencies in exchanging knowledge and tactics that will reinforce the nation’s ongoing fight against illicit drugs, The PUNCH reports.

In his speech during the signing, the NDLEA boss said with the MoU, both organisations would collaborate at inflicting maximum losses on drug cartels bent on trafficking illicit substances at the detriment of Nigeria and Nigerians.

Marwa said, “With this united front, there can only be one assurance that the criminal elements in our society will definitely be the losers and I assure you that they will certainly lose big as we come for them to put them where they rightly belong and cripple their crime syndicates.

“While there is no doubt as to the benefits that this MoU will provide to our two services and the nation at large, it is my hope that its successful execution and implementation will provide the necessary impetus for extension to other sister law enforcement agencies (LEAs) operating at our airports, seaports and land borders. On this basis, it is imperative to drive the implementation of the MoU to ensure that its objectives and derivable are achieved.

“Therefore, on behalf of the NDLEA, I assure you of our commitment to this MoU and intend to provide all the necessary support required to drive the implementation process in order to ensure the realisation of all accruable benefits. As it is usually said, together we stand and remain undefeatable.”

Marwa further added that the document contains several innovations that would encourage interpersonal relationships amongst the rank and file, as well as at the various levels of command and administration of the two organisations.

The agency brought a Commander of Narcotics attached to its forensic unit, Patricia Afolabi, to testify as its first witness.

The witness told the court that part of her job specification involves receiving and conducting forensic analysis on drug exhibits.

She told the court that she had on February 7, 2022, received from the forensic liaison officer of the agency, Abubakar Aliyu, one sealed transparent evidence pack containing 24 dispensing packs each.

She said that each of the packs contained a white substance measured at 0.5grams.

The witness said the package also contained a request form for analysis.

“From the analysis I conducted, which I labelled exhibit A-X, I found out that 21 of the exhibits contained cocaine, while exhibits H to G were found to be negative.

“I then issued an analysis report of my findings, which I signed and sealed. I repacked them as exhibits in a large envelope and addressed them to O.C. NDLEA Abuja,” she said.

The court admitted all the exhibits in evidence without objection from the defendants.

While cross-examining the witness, Kyari’s lawyer, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu SAN asked her if it was true that every suspect in a drug deal must be present before analysis is conducted, a question the witness answered in the negative.

The witness replied that it was not customary that all suspects would be present when substances are also handed over for analysis.

Mrs Afolabi, who said she has over 30 years of experience, explained “I was not present when the drug was recovered. I was not present when NDLEA received it”.

She confirmed that NDLEA operatives are stationed at all entry points in Nigeria, including at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu.

Asked if she was aware if it was NDLEA that recovered the cocaine at the airport in Enugu, the witness said she was not aware.

“I don’t know who recovered the substance. I did not come in contact with any of them”, she added.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned the matter till Tuesday to enable counsel to the other defendants to cross-examine the witness.

Kyari made the appeal through his lawyer, Kanu Agabi, who prayed the court to allow him to remain in the custody of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, pending the hearing and determination of his fresh application for bail.

Kayri, who is facing a drug trafficking charge, made the appeal after he pleaded not guilty to an eight-count charge the NDLEA preferred against him and six others.

Kyari was arriagn before Justice Emeka Nwike, alongside four other police officers, ACP Sunday J. Ubia, ASP Bawa James, Insp. Simon Agirigba and Insp. John Nuhu.

Kayri’s police co-defendants also pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Shortly after the defendants entered their plea, the NDLEA, through its Director, Prosecution and Legal Services, Joseph Sunday, applied for a trial date and for review of facts in respect of the Defendants that pleaded guilty to the charge.

The NDLEA equally told the court that it filed a counter-affidavit to oppose the release of Kyari and the other four former members of the Police IRT, on bail.

But Agabi, while arguing that the charge against his clients were bailable offences, he urged the court not to accede to request for facts in respect of Umeibe and Ezenwanne.

Agabi argued that it will be prejudicial to his client for facts of the case to be reviewed and a decision reached, while the trial is still subsisting.

“It is not in the interest of justice for the facts to be reviewed while the trial is still ongoing”, he said.

He noted that both Umeibe and Ezenwanne were also mentioned in some counts in the charge that involved Kyari and the others.

Addressing the court, the Prosecution counsel, Sunday, maintained that reviewing the facts of the case would not prejudice DCP Kyari and the others.

“My lord, this sort of application by the Defence is to undermine the capacity of this court.

“This case is to be considered on the basis of the evidence before the court. I do not see how the 1st to 5th Defendants will be prejudiced since we are going to confront them with evidence against them.

“The most proper thing is to dispose of the case against the 6th and 7th Defendants.

“It will be unjust and unfair to keep the two defendants in custody while waiting for the conclusion of the trial of the others.

“It is better for them to be convicted to enable them to start serving their sentence”, the Prosecution added.

After he had listened to oral arguments from both sides, trial Justice Nwite said he would want the parties to formally address the court on the issue next Monday.

While the Mexican National Guard deploys to places like Tapachula on the country’s southern border and makes changes to its asylum protocol, agents with the country’s National Migration Institute (INM) are using an X-ray to find migrants being smuggled into the country in trucks.

Mexican officials have reported that they have apprehended at least 200 migrants hidden in trucks the last two days, using X-rays to see the people hidden inside. The Mexican security ministry also said it found 228 migrants in a routine search of a soft drink transportation truck in one of its southern states on Monday.

The INM’s new leader, former prisons chief Francisco Garduno, has overseen several high-profile busts of commercial vehicles smuggling migrants, including 800 people in four trucks the weekend he assumed control.

The Mexican authorities usually capture migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, many of which are below 16. They attempt to travel through Mexico to the United States southern border, where United States Customs and Border Protection reported nearly 133,000 arrests in May.

“We are in a full-blown emergency,” a CBP official said June 5.