In a continued fight against trafficking of illicit drugs, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested five persons in different raids at Enugu, Lagos airports and other parts of the country.
Among the suspects is an ex-international football player, Segun George Hunkarin.
Sugun was nabbed alongside his business partner, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, over an attempt to smuggle a consignment of cocaine into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport,(MMIA) Ikeja, Lagos.
NDLEA said Chinedu is known for transporting clothes from Turkey to Nigeria and foodstuffs from Nigeria to Turkey.
He was the first to be arrested upon his arrival at the Lagos airport on Tuesday, 24th June 2025.
These revelations were made on Sunday in a statement issued by the spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi.
“A search of his carry-on bag revealed 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800 grams were concealed therein.
“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.
“Hunkarin, who had stayed years in Brazil playing for football clubs, was promptly tracked and arrested at the carpark.”
Also arrested at the Lagos airport is another Europe-based businessman, Amen Okoro Godstime.
He was apprehended on on Friday, 27th June, 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 to a train to France, where he resides and from there, send the tramadol consignment to Italy for retailing.”
In the case of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA) Enugu, Babafemi said NDLEA operatives on Friday 27th June intercepted a Maputo, Mozambique-based bar attendant Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel.
He disclosed that 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 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.”
According to him, 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 had arrived from São Paulo, Brazil, was searched, a plastic container marked “YPE” with liquid soap 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 for cocaine.
The substance, which turned out to be liquid cocaine, weighed 1.250kg. The suspect, who is a toy seller in Brinquedo, São Paulo, Brazil, claimed he purchased the substance while shopping for his wedding in Nigeria.
Also arrested within the period in Lagos 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, while in Kwara state, a notorious drug dealer, Mary Bolanle Oladele (a.k.a Iya Nafi), was arrested on Wednesday, 25th June, when NDLEA operatives raided her base in Omu-Aran in Irepodun Local Government Area, where various quantities of skunk, tramadol and flunitrazepam were recovered from her.
The Agency vowed to sustain its fight against drug peddlers.
It said its War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, would be sustained to ensure that the country is rid of those bent on trafficking banned substances.
NDLEA said the campaign continues this week across the country.