By John Ikani
Nemesis has caught up with the wanted billionaire drug baron who was an accomplice to Nigeria’s suspended and indicted ‘Super Cop,’ DCP Abba Kyari in a N3 billion Tramadol deal linked to Kyari-led Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
The arrest of the drug baron identified as Chief Afam Mallinson Emmanuel Ukatu was contained in a statement addressed to members of the public on Monday, April 25, 2022, by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Spokesperson, Femi Babafemi.
According to the statement, Ukatu, who is Chairman of Mallinson Group of Companies was arrested onboard a flight to Abuja at the MM2 terminal of the Lagos airport, Ikeja on Wednesday, April 13, 2022.
The statement which noted that Ukatu is a major importer of large consignments of different brands and high dosages of Tramadol Hydrochloride, added that the suspect owns pharmaceutical and plastic manufacturing companies, which he used as cover to import illicit drugs into Nigeria.
“This is in addition to operating 103 bank accounts, most of which are used to launder money,” the statement added.
It went on to note that: “Ukatu came under watch last year after five cartons of Tramadol 225mg were seized from his staff on 4th May 2021 when he sent them to sell to undercover police officers (unknown to Ukatu) from the then Kyari-led IRT of the Nigeria Police, Ikeja Lagos. The price of a carton of Tramadol was negotiated at N17 million each as against the then black market value that ranged between N18 million and N20 million a carton in Lagos.
“After the arrest of Ukatu’s staff: Pius Enidom and Sunday Ibekwete, Kyari’s men were then led by the suspects to Mallinson’s warehouse at Ojota in Lagos where 197 additional Cartons of Tramadol 225mg were seized by the IRT Team. The monetary value of the 202 cartons of Tramadol seized from Mallinson in one day was over N3 billion.
“Three weeks after the seizure, the Kyari’s 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.”
It would be recalled that 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.
Kyari, a highly decorated Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) was the most celebrated ‘crime-buster’ in the Nigerian Police Force, leading him to be given the sobriquet of a ‘Supercop’ for what many thought to be his extraordinary, if not close to legendary, prowess in tracking down and nabbing armed robbers and kidnappers.
The suspended senior police officer who used to head the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) has been in the eye of the storm since last year after he was first fingered in a multi-million-dollar Internet fraud case by the US government.
In the light of numerous incontrovertible shreds of evidence against the disgraced Super-Cop, Heritage Times lent its voice to calls for the withdrawal of numerous honours conferred on Kyari.
Coincidentally, both Kyari and Ukatu were honoured by Silverbird Group in 2018 with Kyrai receiving Silverbird 2018 HERO of the Year Award and Ukatu clinching Silverbird Man Of The Year 2018.
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