Afam Mallinson Emmanuel Ukatu, the billionaire behind the N3billion Tramadol deal linked to the disgraced Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari-led Intelligence Response Team, IRT, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
NDLEA said it arrested Mr Ukatu after months of surveillance and evading arrest on board a flight to Abuja at the MM2 terminal of the Lagos airport, Ikeja on Wednesday, April 13.
According to the agency, its investigations showed that he has been a major importer of large consignments of different brands and high dosages of Tramadol Hydrochloride, ranging from 120mg, 200mg, 225mg and 250mg, all of which are illicit.
It said Mr Ukatu owns pharmaceutical and plastic manufacturing companies, which he used as a cover to import illicit drugs into Nigeria. This is in addition to operating 103 bank accounts, most of which are used to launder money.
Recall that in 2021, specifically on May 4, 2021, five cartons of Tramadol 225mg were seized from Mr Ukatu’s staff on May 4, when he sent them to sell to undercover police officers from Kyari-led IRT of the Nigeria Police, Ikeja Lagos.
According to Daily Nigerian, the price of a carton of Tramadol was negotiated at N17million each as against the then black market value that ranged between N18million and N20million a carton in Lagos.
After the arrest of Mr Ukatu’s staff: Pius Enidom and Sunday Ibekwete, Mr Kyaris 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 N3billion.
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 Mr Ukatu at the Lagos airport on 13th April 2022.
Mr 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.
