The NDLEA Apprehends Drug Lord Who Is Tied To Abba Kyari and others

The NDLEA Apprehends Drug Lord Who Is Tied To Abba Kyari and others

Chief Afam Mallinson Emmanuel Ukatu, the millionaire drug baron behind the N3 billion Tramadol transaction involving the embattled suspended deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari-led Intelligence Response Team, IRT, has been detained, according to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

After months of surveillance and evading arrest, Ukatu, the Chairman of the Mallinson Group of Companies, was finally apprehended onboard a flight to Abuja at the MM2 terminal of the Lagos airport, Ikeja on Wednesday 13th April, according to a statement by Femi Babafemi, director, Media & Publicity, NDLEA.

Read More: How NDLEA Operatives Seized Cocaine In Teabags, Apprehends Smugglers At Lagos And Abuja Airports

He was a big importer of large consignments of various brands and high dosages of Tramadol Hydrochloride, ranging from 120mg, 200mg, 225mg, and 250mg, all of which are illegal, according to investigations. Ukatu owned pharmaceutical and plastic manufacturing businesses that he exploited to smuggle illegal substances into Nigeria. In addition, he manages 103 bank accounts, the majority of which are used to launder money.

Last year, five cartons of Tramadol 225mg were seized from Ukatu’s crew on the 4th of May 2021, when he dispatched them to sell to undercover police operatives (unknown to Ukatu) from the then Kyari-led IRT of the Nigerian Police in Ikeja, Lagos.

The price of a carton of Tramadol was negotiated at N17million per carton, compared to the black market value of N18million to N20million per carton in Lagos at the time.

Following the arrest of Ukatu’s personnel, Pius Enidom and Sunday Ibekwete, Kyaris men were led by the suspects to Mallinson’s warehouse in Ojota, Lagos, where the IRT Team seized 197 more Cartons of Tramadol 225mg. The 202 boxes of Tramadol seized from Mallinson in one day were worth over N3 billion.

Three weeks after the seizure, the Kyaris IRT team transferred only 12 Cartons of the Tramadol with one truck and a suspect to the Lagos Command of the NDLEA, leaving 190 cartons unaccounted for. After over eight months of following the lead, anti-narcotic officers of the Agency eventually arrested Ukatu at the Lagos airport on 13th April 2022. Kyari and four top members of his team are already facing trial for a different but similar offence at a Federal High Court in Abuja.