From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested former international footballer Segun George Hunkarin and his businessman partner, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, for attempting to smuggle cocaine into Nigeria through Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
Chinedu, a frequent flyer known for transporting clothes from Turkey to Nigeria and foodstuffs from Nigeria to Turkey, was arrested on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, upon arrival at Lagos airport. A search of his carry-on bag revealed 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800 grams concealed therein. Investigations showed he arrived from Turkey via an Ethiopian Airlines flight, transiting through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he collected the luggage from another individual. Further checks revealed Hunkarin, who had played professional football in Brazil, was waiting at the airport car park to collect the consignment. He was promptly tracked and arrested. Hunkarin claimed he had trafficked drugs twice from Brazil to Ethiopia but never into Nigeria.
On Friday, June 27, 2025, NDLEA operatives at MMIA arrested Europe-based businessman Amen Okoro Godstime for attempting to smuggle 5,000 tramadol 225mg pills, disguised as malaria drugs (Lonart, Amatem, Aluktem), to Spain. He was intercepted at Terminal 2’s departure hall during clearance for a Royal Air Maroc flight to Spain via Casablanca. Okoro, involved in freight and logistics between Europe and Nigeria, claimed he would travel by train from Spain to France, where he resides, and then send the tramadol to Italy for retail.
At Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu, on the same day, NDLEA operatives intercepted Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel, a 38-year-old bar attendant from Maputo, Mozambique. A search of his luggage uncovered 17 cardboard-sized parcels of methamphetamine weighing 17.5 kilograms and three parcels of cocaine weighing 3.05 kilograms, concealed in bedsheets. He arrived from Johannesburg, South Africa, via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight. Another passenger on the same flight, 54-year-old Azu Follygan Kpodar from São Paulo, Brazil, was arrested with a plastic container of liquid soap (marked YPE) containing 1.25 kilograms of liquid cocaine, confirmed by NDLEA’s forensic laboratory in Enugu. Kpodar, a toy seller, claimed he purchased the substance for his upcoming wedding in Nigeria.
In other operations, NDLEA operatives at the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, intercepted 26-year-old Beninese national Vode Jean-Luck attempting to smuggle 69 balls of skunk, a potent cannabis strain weighing 29.5 kilograms, from Benin Republic into Nigeria. In Kwara State, notorious drug dealer Mary Bolanle Oladele, alias Iya Nafi, was arrested on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, during a raid in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area, where skunk, tramadol, and flunitrazepam were recovered. In Delta State, 72-year-old Mrs Christy Ejaro was arrested on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, in the Niger CAT area of Warri with several sachets of skunk for retail.
The NDLEA continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy, delivering sensitisation lectures at schools including Yakubawa Model Primary School, Zango, Katsina; Police Secondary School, Igboora, Oyo; Divine Favour International Group of Schools, Bende LGA, Abia; Command Day Secondary School, Ojoo, Ibadan; Mater Dei College, Udi, Enugu; Community Girls Secondary School, Yenagoa, Bayelsa; and Fiyinfolu High School, Ikole Ekiti.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers at MMIA, AIIA, Delta, Kwara, and Seme Commands for their arrests and seizures, praising their balance of drug supply and demand reduction efforts.