The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested an ex-international football player and his businessman partner over an alleged attempt to smuggle a consignment of cocaine into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA) Ikeja, Lagos.
The NDLEA said the business partner was arrested upon his arrival at the Lagos airport on Tuesday, June 24, 2025.
In a statement by the Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, it said a search of his carry-on bag revealed 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800 grams concealed therein.
“Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested an ex-international football player Segun George Hunkarin along with his businessman partner Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu over an attempt to smuggle a consignment of cocaine into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA) Ikeja, Lagos.
“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 carpark to collect the consignment from him,” it said.
The agency explained that 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 had never brought any to Nigeria,” it added.
The NDLEA further disclosed that another Europe-based businessman it identified as Amen Okoro Godstime was on June 27 arrested by its 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”.
It explained that he was intercepted at the departure hall of Terminal 2 of the airport during the outward clearance of passengers on a 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 to a train to France where he resides, and from there send the tramadol consignment to Italy for retailing,” the statement added.
At the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA) Enugu, the NDLEA operatives said it intercepted a Maputo, Mozambique-based bar attendant, one Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel.
It said that a search of his luggage led to the discovery of cardboard-sized parcels of methamphetamine weighing 17.500 kilograms and three parcels of cocaine weighing 3.050 kilograms.
The statement read in part, “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.
“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 cocaineChannels.”
