NDLEA arrests ex-footballer, others over drug trafficking at Lagos, Enugu airports

Operatives of the Nationwide Drug Laws Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested extinct world footballer, Segun George Hunkarin, and his businessman partner, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, over an are trying to smuggle cocaine into Nigeria thru the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

Chinedu, a frequent traveller identified for importing clothes from Turkey and exporting foodstuffs from Nigeria, modified into apprehended on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, at Lagos airport. A search of his raise-on salvage revealed 37 wraps of cocaine, weighing 800 grammes, hid inner.

Preliminary investigations showed that Chinedu had flown from Turkey on an Ethiopian Airlines flight and picked up the illicit substance all the method thru a transit pause in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, earlier than persevering with to Nigeria. Extra exams resulted in the arrest of Hunkarin, who modified into waiting in the airport automobile park to fetch the package.

Hunkarin, who spent a lot of years playing educated soccer in Brazil, admitted in his observation to trafficking pills twice from Brazil to Ethiopia, but denied ever smuggling pills into Nigeria.

In a separate operation, Europe-based entirely businessman, Amen Okoro Godstime, modified into arrested on Friday, June 27, 2025, on the same airport while attempting to traffic 5,000 pills of tramadol 225mg disguised as malaria pills similar to Lonart, Amatem, and Aluktem. He modified into intercepted all the method thru passenger clearance for a Royal Air Maroc flight to Spain by project of Casablanca.

Okoro, who manages a freight and logistics business between Europe and Nigeria, claimed he intended to ship the consignment from France to Italy for distribution after arriving in Spain and taking a educate to his space in France.

On the same day, NDLEA operatives at Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu, intercepted Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel, a Mozambique-based entirely bar attendant. A search of his baggage uncovered 17 parcels of methamphetamine weighing 17.5 kilogrammes and three parcels of cocaine weighing 3.05 kilogrammes, hid in bedsheets.

The 38-twelve months-historical suspect, who had travelled from Johannesburg, South Africa, by project of Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight, modified into arrested all the method thru routine exams.