OPERATIVES of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a Nigerian ex-international football player, Segun George Hunkarin, along with his businessman partner, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu.
They were arrested over an attempt to smuggle a consignment of cocaine into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
This was disclosed in a statement released on Sunday, June 29, by the spokesperson of the agency, Femi Babafemi.
According to the NDLEA, Chinedu, who is a frequent flyer known for conveying clothes from Turkey to Nigeria and foodstuffs from Nigeria to Turkey, was the first to be arrested upon his arrival at the Lagos airport on Tuesday, June 24, 2025.
The agency said a search of his carry-on bag revealed 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800 grams were concealed therein.
“Investigation showed that the suspect was coming from Turkey on an Ethiopian Airlines flight but transited through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he collected the luggage from another person before heading to Nigeria.
“Further checks revealed that an accomplice, who turned out to be the former professional footballer Segun Hunkarin, was waiting for Chinedu at the airport car park to collect the consignment from him. Hunkarin, who had stayed for years in Brazil playing for football clubs, was promptly tracked and arrested at the car park,” NDLEA stated.
According to the NDLEA, Hunkarin, in his statement claimed that while playing professional football in Brazil, he had only trafficked drugs twice from Brazil to Ethiopia, but had never brought any to Nigeria.
Similarly, the agency said a Europe-based businessman, Amen Okoro Godstime, was also arrested by the agency on Friday, June 27, at the Lagos airport while attempting to traffic 5,000 pills of tramadol 225 mg packaged as known malaria drugs such as Lonart, Amatem, and Aluktem to Spain.
He was intercepted at the departure hall of terminal 2 of the airport during the outward clearance of passengers on the Royal Air Maroc flight to Spain through Casablanca.
Okoro, who is in the freight and logistics business between Europe and Nigeria, claimed that on his arrival in Spain, he would take a train to France, where he resides, and from there send the tramadol consignment to Italy for retailing.
At the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA) in Enugu, NDLEA said its operatives intercepted a Maputo, Mozambique-based bar attendant, Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel, and a search of his luggage led to the discovery of 17 cardboard-sized parcels of methamphetamine weighing 17.500 kilograms and three parcels of cocaine weighing 3.050 kilograms.
“The 38-year-old suspect was coming from Johannesburg, South Africa, via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Ethiopian Airlines flight when he was interdicted and subjected to a search during which the illicit drugs concealed in bedsheets packed in his bags were discovered.”
NDLEA stated.
The NDLEA said another passenger on board the same Ethiopian Airlines flight, 54-year-old Azu Follygan Kpodar, was also intercepted at the Enugu airport by NDLEA operatives when he arrived from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
According to the agency, he was searched, and a liquid soap plastic container marked YPE was discovered in his luggage. The substance was promptly taken for analysis at the NDLEA forensic and chemical laboratory, Enugu, where the substance tested positive for cocaine. The substance, which turned out to be liquid cocaine, weighed 1.250 kg.
The suspect, who is a toy seller in Brinquedo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, claimed he purchased the substance while shopping for his wedding ceremony in Nigeria.
A reporter with the ICIR
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