By peterside Rejoice
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested an ex-professional footballer, Segun George Hunkarin, and four others in a series of drug busts across Lagos, Enugu, Kwara, and Delta states.
NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, in a statement issued Sunday, revealed that Hunkarin was apprehended at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, alongside a businessman partner, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, who attempted to smuggle 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800 grams into Nigeria.
Chinedu, known for shuttling goods between Turkey and Nigeria, had arrived via an Ethiopian Airlines flight and was caught with the concealed drugs in his carry-on bag. Investigation showed he received the consignment during a layover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Hunkarin was arrested at the airport car park while waiting to collect the package.
The former footballer reportedly confessed to trafficking drugs twice from Brazil to Ethiopia during his playing career in South America but denied ever smuggling into Nigeria.
In a separate operation, another Europe-based businessman, Amen Okoro Godstime, was arrested at Terminal 2 of MMIA on Friday while attempting to traffic 5,000 pills of tramadol 225mg to Spain, disguised as malaria medication.
Similarly, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu, NDLEA operatives intercepted Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel, a bar attendant based in Maputo, Mozambique. A search of his luggage uncovered 17.5kg of methamphetamine and 3.05kg of cocaine, hidden in bed sheets.
On the same flight from Johannesburg via Addis Ababa, another passenger, 54-year-old Azu Follygan Kpodar, was caught with 1.25kg of liquid cocaine disguised in a plastic container of liquid soap.
At the Seme border in Lagos, 26-year-old Beninese national, Vode Jean-Luck, was arrested with 29.5kg of skunk hidden in 69 balls as he tried to cross into Nigeria.
Further arrests were made in Kwara State, where a notorious drug dealer, Mary Bolanle Oladele (a.k.a Iya Nafi), was caught with skunk, tramadol, and flunitrazepam during a raid in Omu-Aran, Irepodun LGA.
In Warri, Delta State, 72-year-old grandmother, Mrs. Christy Ejaro, was arrested with several sachets of skunk in her possession at the Niger CAT area.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended officers at MMIA, AIIA, Seme, Kwara, and Delta for their vigilance and professionalism, urging continued efforts in balancing supply and demand reduction strategies in Nigeria’s drug war
