EFCC detains Sylva’s brother-in-law, seize cocaine

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday morning raided the Abuja residence of a brother inlaw to the former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva, where it seized a bag containing substances suspected  to be cocaine and subsequently took him into custody. It was gathered the EFCC raided the house in search of documents and evidence to nail Sylva for alleged financial crimes perpetrated during his four-year tenure as governor of oil-rich Bayelsa but stumbled into the bag of drugs. The EFCC Spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwajaren confirmed the raided report. However, the suspect  reportedly denied knowledge of the substance and has accused the EFCC of planting the substance in his residence. The statement read, “In an apparent plot targeted at former Bayelsa State governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, men of the EFCC stormed the Abuja residence of his brother-in-law, Mr. Richie Imoh Tommy, early Friday morning. “They conducted a thorough search of the house, and when they found nothing incriminating, they produced a bag which they said contained cocaine. “On that basis, Mr. Tommy was arrested and has been denied access to his lawyers. Mr. Tommy completely denies ownership of the said bag, and wonders why even without a test or investigation, EFCC would claim to have found cocaine in his house. Besides, it remains curious how EFCC suddenly became a drug-busting organ. “Mr. Tommy believes that the EFCC’s assault on his residence and the allegation of a cocaine-laden bag is another desperate mission targeted at his in-law, the former Bayelsa State governor, by agents of President Goodluck Jonathan.”