By Abiola Olawale
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has apprehended a former international footballer, Segun George Hunkarin, his business partner, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, and several others in a series of raids targeting illicit drug smuggling at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos.
The operations, conducted between June 24 and June 27, 2025, resulted in the seizure of 22.6 kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine.
This was contained in a press statement in issued by the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday.
According to the statement, Chinedu was apprehended on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, upon arrival from Turkey via an Ethiopian Airlines flight that transited through Addis Ababa.
The statement reads in part: “A search of his hand luggage revealed 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800 grammes, which he allegedly collected in Ethiopia.
“Further investigation led to the arrest of Hunkarin, a former professional footballer who spent several years playing in Brazil.
“In his statement, Hunkarin admitted to previously trafficking drugs twice between Brazil and Ethiopia during his football career, but claimed he had never smuggled narcotics into Nigeria.”
In a separate incident, Europe-based businessman Amen Okoro Godstime was arrested on Friday, June 27, at Lagos Airport while attempting to smuggle 5,000 tablets of Tramadol (225mg) disguised as malaria drugs such as Lonart, Amatem, and Aluktem.
He was intercepted at Terminal 2 during clearance for a Royal Air Maroc flight to Spain via Casablanca and confessed he planned to move the drugs to Italy through France, where he resided.
At the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, NDLEA operatives also intercepted two suspected drug traffickers on the same day.
