By: Mandy Park
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has apprehended a former international football player, Segun George Hunkarin, and four others in connection with a foiled attempt to smuggle 22.6 kilograms of cocaine into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.
Hunkarin, a former professional footballer who played for clubs in Brazil, and Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, his business partner were arrested.
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. A search of his carry-on bag revealed 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800grams were concealed therein.
Investigation showed that the suspect was coming from Turkey on 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, Hunkarin, was waiting for Chinedu at the airport carpark to collect the consignment from him. Hunkarin, who had stayed years in Brazil playing for football clubs, was promptly tracked and arrested at the carpark.
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 has never brought any to Nigeria.
Another Europe based businessman, Amen Okoro Godstime, was on Friday ,June 27, arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport while attempting to traffic 5,000 pills of tramadol 225mg 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 Royal Air Maroc flight to Spain through Casablanca.
Okoro, who is into freight and logistics business between Europe and Nigeria claimed that on his arrival in Spain, he would take to 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), Enugu state ,NDLEA operatives on Friday, June 27, intercepted a Maputo, Mozambique based bar attendant Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel. A search of his luggage led to the discovery of 17 cardboard size 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.
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 Azu, who arrived from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was searched, 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 to cocaine.
The substance which turned out to be liquid cocaine weighed 1.250kg. 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.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives at the Seme border area of Badagry, Lagos, on Tuesday , June 24, intercepted a 26-year-old Beninese Vode Jean-Luck while trying to smuggle 69 balls of skunk, a strain of cannabis with a gross weight of 29.5kg, from Benin Republic into Nigeria.
The NDLEA’s efforts to combat drug trafficking at the MMIA have yielded significant results, with the agency working to dismantle networks of drug traffickers and prevent the smuggling of illicit substances into the country.