While there is deep attention given to the growing ills of the society, with many offenses spurred by the wide spread of illicit drugs , more cases of drug cartels have been reported , with the NDLEA uncovering many dark corners , aspects that may have been neglected in the past, but coming into full scale with the nature of the leadership in the current NDLEA team.
It has been reported that the NDLEA , in its investigation on Chief Afam Mallinson Ukatu , have uncovered a shady deal which saw the individual mentioned above import two containers of tramadol, an offense to be said to have been committed in the 2019. On April 12th, 2022, the NDLEA arrested Chief Afam in connection to a 3 Billion Naira deal which involved the suspended Abba Kyari , who is also in court for related offenses.
Spokesperson of the agency, Femi Babafemi who is the spokesperson for the NDLEA issued on May 3rd, 2022 , made statements to clarify claims from certain corners that assumed that the NDLEA had no evidence against Chief Afam. In his statement , he said .
”After months of surveillance, Ukatu was eventually arrested on board a flight to Abuja at the MM2 terminal of the Lagos airport, Ikeja on Wednesday 13th April.
Investigations reveal he’s 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. Ukatu owns pharmaceutical and plastic manufacturing companies, which he used as a cover to import illicit drugs into Nigeria.
The Agency said in the course of investigating the N3billion Tramadol saga between Ukatu and the Abba Kyaris IRT team, its operatives have unearthed more evidences establishing how Ukatu has been importing large quantities of Tramadol far above the approved threshold allowed into the country.
In one instance, Ukatu through his Mallinson Group of companies imported into the country two-conatiner loads of five different brands of Tramadol in October 2019 through the Apapa ports in Lagos. All the evidences so far gathered show that the imported Tramadol brands were far above the threshold permitted to be imported into Nigeria.”
