The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has apprehended a former international footballer and two businessmen in connection with separate drug trafficking attempts into and out of Nigeria, with arrests made at both the Lagos and Enugu international airports.
In a statement released by the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, it was disclosed that operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos arrested Segun George Hunkarin, a retired footballer with a background in Brazilian clubs, alongside his associate, businessman Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu.
According to the statement, Chinedu was detained on Tuesday, June 24, after arriving from Turkey via Ethiopia. A routine check of his carry-on luggage uncovered 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800 grams. “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,” the statement explained.
Further investigation revealed that Hunkarin was stationed at the airport car park, awaiting the delivery of the illicit package. NDLEA operatives moved in and arrested him shortly after Chinedu’s detention. “In his statement, Hunkarin claimed that while playing professional football in the South American country, he had only trafficked drugs twice from Brazil to Ethiopia but had never brought any to Nigeria,” the agency noted.
In a separate operation on June 27, another businessman, Amen Okoro Godstime, was caught attempting to smuggle 5,000 tablets of Tramadol 225mg out of the country. The controlled substances were disguised as antimalarial medications—Lonart, Amatem, and Aluktem—and hidden in his luggage.
Godstime was intercepted at the departure terminal of Lagos Airport while trying to board a Royal Air Maroc flight to Spain. “Okoro, who is into 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,” the NDLEA reported.
Meanwhile, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA) in Enugu, NDLEA officers made two additional arrests involving hard drugs. Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel, a bar attendant based in Mozambique, was caught with over 17.5 kilograms of methamphetamine and more than 3 kilograms of cocaine. The drugs were concealed in bedsheets packed in his luggage.
“The 38-year-old suspect was coming from Johannesburg, South Africa via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on an 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,” Babafemi stated.
Another passenger on the same flight, 54-year-old Azu Follygan Kpodar, was also intercepted. Upon searching his bags, NDLEA operatives found a plastic container of liquid soap labeled “YPE” filled with liquid cocaine. “The substance was promptly taken for analysis at the NDLEA forensic and chemical laboratory, Enugu where the substance tested positive to cocaine,” the statement confirmed.
The NDLEA said all suspects are undergoing further investigation and will face prosecution in accordance with Nigeria’s drug trafficking laws.
