BENUE BOOSTS CHILD PROTECTION WITH GRADUATION OF 60 UNICEF-BACKED SOCIAL WORKERS. (PHOTOS).

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 BENUE BOOSTS CHILD PROTECTION WITH GRADUATION OF 60 UNICEF-BACKED SOCIAL WORKERS  Benue State has taken a major step toward strengthening child protection and social welfare services with the graduation of 60 Auxiliary Social Workers (ASWs) trained to serve vulnerable children and families at the grassroots. The graduation ceremony, held on Wednesday, marked the successful completion of a programme jointly supported by the Benue State Government, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and the Benue State Bureau for International Cooperation and Development (BICD). Speaking at the event themed “Building Community Resilience Through Professional Auxiliary Social Work,” the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Hon. Mrs. Theresa Apochi-Ikwue, described the initiative as a strategic response to gaps in child protection services across the state. She said the newly trained ASWs would...

NDLEA ARRESTS DRUG BARON BEHIND N3BILLION TRAMADOL LINKED TO ABBA KYARIS TEAM.(PHOTO).#PRESS RELEASE.


NDLEA arrests drug baron behind N3billion Tramadol linked to Abba Kyaris team

Billionaire drug baron behind the N3billion Tramadol deal involving the embattled suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari-led Intelligence Response Team, IRT, Chief Afam Mallinson Emmanuel Ukatu has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.

After months of surveillance and evading arrest, Ukatu who is Chairman of Mallinson Group of Companies was eventually nabbed onboard a flight to Abuja 
at the MM2 terminal of the Lagos airport, Ikeja on Wednesday 13th April. 

Investigations reveal hes 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. 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, 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 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.

Femi Babafemi
Director, Media & Advocacy
NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja
Monday 25th April 2022

 

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