The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has announced the arrest of former international footballer, Segun George Hunkarin, and his business partner, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, over an attempt to smuggle a consignment of cocaine into Nigeria through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Chinedu, known as a frequent flyer who routinely transports clothes from Turkey to Nigeria and foodstuffs from Nigeria to Turkey, was arrested first upon his arrival at the Lagos airport on Tuesday, June 24, 2025.
A search of his carry-on bag revealed 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800 grams concealed within.
Babafemi disclosed that investigation revealed Chinedu arrived from Turkey on an Ethiopian Airlines flight, having transited through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he collected the luggage from another individual before proceeding to Nigeria.
Further checks uncovered that his accomplice, former professional footballer Segun Hunkarin, was waiting at the airport car park to collect the consignment. Hunkarin, who had spent years playing football for clubs in Brazil, was swiftly tracked and arrested at the scene.
In his statement, Hunkarin admitted that while playing professionally in South America, he had trafficked drugs twice from Brazil to Ethiopia, but claimed he had never brought any into Nigeria.
In a separate operation, Europe-based businessman Amen Okoro Godstime was arrested on Friday, June 27, by NDLEA operatives at Lagos airport while attempting to traffic 5,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg, disguised as common malaria medications such as Lonart, Amatem, and Aluktem, to Spain.
He was intercepted at the departure hall of Terminal 2 during the outward clearance of passengers on a Royal Air Maroc flight to Spain via Casablanca. Okoro, who operates a freight and logistics business between Europe and Nigeria, claimed he intended to take a train to France upon arrival in Spain and then send the Tramadol consignment to Italy for retail distribution.
At the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, NDLEA operatives on Friday, June 27, intercepted a bar attendant based in Maputo, Mozambique, Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel. A search of his luggage led to the discovery of 17 cardboard-sized parcels of methamphetamine weighing 17.5 kilograms and three parcels of cocaine weighing 3.05 kilograms. The 38-year-old suspect was arriving from Johannesburg, South Africa, via Addis Ababa, when he was flagged and searched. The drugs had been concealed in bed sheets within his luggage.
Another passenger on the same Ethiopian Airlines flight, 54-year-old Azu Follygan Kpodar, was also intercepted at Enugu airport. Upon searching his luggage, NDLEA operatives discovered a plastic container of liquid soap marked “YPE” which, after analysis at the NDLEA forensic laboratory in Enugu, tested positive for liquid cocaine weighing 1.25 kilograms. The suspect, a toy seller based in Brinquedo, São Paulo, Brazil, claimed he had purchased the substance while shopping for his upcoming wedding in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, at the Seme border area of Badagry, Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, June 24, intercepted 26-year-old Beninese national Vode Jean-Luck while attempting to smuggle 69 balls of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis, into Nigeria. The consignment had a gross weight of 29.5 kilograms.
In Kwara State, notorious drug dealer Mary Bolanle Oladele, popularly known as “Iya Nafi”, was apprehended on Wednesday, June 25, during a raid by NDLEA operatives on her base in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area. Various quantities of skunk, Tramadol, and Flunitrazepam were recovered from the scene.
In Delta State, a 72-year-old grandmother, Mrs Christy Ejaro, was arrested on Tuesday, June 24, in the Niger CAT area of Warri. Several sachets of skunk, packaged in retail sizes, were seized from her.
