Nigeria Processing U.S. Request to Extradite Cop Linked to Hushpuppi Scam
(Bloomberg) -- Nigeria's government is processing a request to extradite a senior police officer indicted in the U.S. for his alleged role in a scam perpetrated by an Instagram influencer.
Attorney General Abubakar Malami has “received the extradition request in respect of the officer in question,” his spokesman Umar Gwandu said in a statement Thursday. Gwandu confirmed by text message that his statement referred to Abba Kyari, a deputy commissioner in the Nigerian Police Force.
Read: Nigerian Instagram Influencer's Downfall Ensnares a ‘Super Cop'
After reviewing the request, Malami forwarded it to the “relevant authorities for further necessary action,” according to the statement. Several Nigerian newspapers reported Thursday that the attorney general filed an application at a federal court for Kyari's extradition based on a request from the U.S. Embassy.
The embassy referred questions to the U.S. Justice Department, which declined to comment in response to an email.
Kyari, one of Nigeria's best-known security officials, was suspended from the police force after a U.S. grand jury indictment of him and five others was unsealed in July. Prosecutors accuse Kyari of imprisoning one of the charged individuals to prevent him from interfering in a then-ongoing scam at the request of social media influencer Ramon Abbas, who is better known as Hushpuppi.
Abbas, who was deported from Dubai to the U.S., is currently awaiting sentencing.
Kyari was arrested last month after Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency accused him of attempting to sell 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of confiscated cocaine.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
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