A Deputy Inspector General of Police, Joseph Egbunike, who was in-charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department, is dead.
According to reports, Egbunike died on Tuesday after he slumped in his office, in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The DIG, who hails from Onitsha, Anambra State, was until his death, heading the Special Investigation Panel constituted by the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, to investigate the activities of the suspended head of the Police Intelligence Response Team, Abba Kyari, over money laundering allegations.
Suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, who is facing a drug trafficking charge has pleaded with Justice Emeka Nwike of the Federal High Court, Abuja not to remand him in prison custody.
Earlier in the week, reports reveal that Kyari, the erstwhile head of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), through his lawyer, Kanu Agabi, SAN, 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.
Kyari was arraigned alongside six others on Monday and had reportedly pleaded not guilty to an eight-count charge the NDLEA preferred against him.
The four other police officers- ACP Sunday J. Ubia, ASP Bawa James, Insp. Simon Agirigba and Insp. John Nuhu, had also pleaded non-guilty to the charges.
Meanwhile, two alleged drug traffickers that were arrested at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne, pleaded guilty to allegations against them.
Subsequently, the NDLEA, through its Director, Prosecution & 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 agency also 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.
