A SUN Award winner for year 2020, Sir Mallinson Ukatu have suddenly been described nationwide as a drug baron. This is after the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) made a viral arrest.
According to the NDLEA, Sir Mallinson Ukatu is a suspected billionaire drug baron behind the N3bn Tramadol deal allegedly involving the embattled suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari.
The anti-narcotic agency said Chief Afam Mallinson Emmanuel Ukatu’s arrest followed months of surveillance and evasion of arrest.
Ukatu, who is Chairman of Mallinson Group of Companies, was arrested onboard a flight to Abuja at the MM2 Terminal of the Murtala Muhammadu Airport, Ikeja Lagos on Wednesday, April 13.
The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Monday, titled, ‘NDLEA arrests drug baron behind N3billion Tramadol linked to Abba Kyaris team’.
Babafemi said investigations revealed that the suspect is a major importer of large consignments of different brands and high dosages of Tramadol Hydrochloride.
According to him, the Tramadol ranging from 120mg, 200mg, 225mg and 250mg are illicit. He added that Ukatu owns pharmaceutical and plastic manufacturing companies, which he used as a cover to import illicit drugs into Nigeria.
The statement read, “This is in addition to operating 103 bank accounts, most of which are used to launder money.
“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 N17million each as against the then black market value that ranged between N18million and N20million 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 N3billion.
“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.
“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.”
Chief Mallinson Ukatu was born on May 8, 1964, in Onitsha, Anambra State. As at 2020, he is reported to be married with five children.
He obtained a B.A Honours degree in Philosophy from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and an MBA from Crawford University, Ogun State.
Ukatu is a Fellow of the Rotary Club International; Fellow, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN); a member of the Certified Institute of Cost Management of Nigeria (CICM), and a certified member of the Institute of Strategic Management of Nigeria.
He is reported in 2020 to be the Managing Director of Nispon Porcelain Company Ltd, Nigeria’s first indigenous floor tiles and PVC Manufacturing Company, located in Ogun State and other parts of the country.
At the same time, he was reported to be the Executive Chairman and Founder of Mallinson & Partners Limited.
Ukatu was also reported to be the Director in Cowry Assets and Management; a Director at Master Energy Oil & Gas Limited; Director, Urban Space Services, and Director, Alor Microfinance Bank Limited.
