NDLEA: Ex-Nigerian Footballer, 72-Year-Old Grandma, Others Arrested in Nationwide Operations
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a former Nigerian international football player, Segun George Hunkarin, and several others in a string of nationwide raids targeting drug traffickers, with a total of 22.6 kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine seized at major airports.
Hunkarin was arrested alongside his associate, a businessman identified as Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos. Chinedu, known for frequent travels between Nigeria and Turkey, was apprehended on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, upon his arrival from Turkey via Ethiopian Airlines. A search of his hand luggage revealed 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800 grams.
NDLEA investigations revealed that Chinedu had collected the illicit consignment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, before arriving in Lagos, where Hunkarin was already waiting in the airport car park to receive the drugs. The ex-footballer, who claimed to have previously trafficked drugs from Brazil to Ethiopia during his playing days in South America, was swiftly arrested by operatives.
In a separate operation at the MMIA on Friday, June 27, NDLEA agents arrested Amen Okoro Godstime, a freight and logistics operator, attempting to smuggle 5,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg disguised as malaria drugs such as Lonart, Amatem, and Aluktem. Okoro was preparing to board a Royal Air Maroc flight to Spain via Casablanca. He admitted that the drugs were to be forwarded to Italy for sale after transiting through France.
At the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA) in Enugu, NDLEA officers intercepted a Maputo-based bar attendant, Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel, who arrived from Johannesburg on June 27 via Ethiopian Airlines. His luggage contained 17 cardboard-sized parcels of methamphetamine weighing 17.5 kilograms and three parcels of cocaine weighing 3.05 kilograms, hidden in bedsheets.
On the same flight, another suspect, Azu Follygan Kpodar, 54, was arrested with a liquid soap container filled with liquid cocaine weighing 1.25 kilograms. Kpodar, a toy seller based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, claimed he purchased the drug while shopping for his upcoming wedding in Nigeria.
In Lagos, operatives at the Seme border arrested 26-year-old Beninese national Vode Jean-Luck on June 24 while attempting to smuggle 69 balls of skunk — a potent strain of cannabis — weighing 29.5 kilograms into Nigeria from Benin Republic.
In Kwara State, notorious drug dealer Mary Bolanle Oladele, popularly known as “Iya Nafi,” was arrested on June 25 during a raid at her base in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area. Recovered from her were various quantities of skunk, tramadol, and flunitrazepam.
Also in Delta State, NDLEA operatives arrested a 72-year-old grandmother, Mrs. Christy Ejaro, on June 24 at the Niger CAT area of Warri. Multiple sachets of skunk packaged for retail were found in her possession.
Meanwhile, the NDLEA intensified its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign across the country, conducting sensitization lectures in schools including Yakubawa Model Primary School in Katsina, Police Secondary School in Igboora, Oyo, Divine Favour International in Abia, Mater Dei College in Enugu, and others in Bayelsa and Ekiti states.
Commending the operations, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised the agency’s operatives at the MMIA, AIIA, Delta, Kwara, and Seme Commands for their effective drug supply disruption efforts. He also lauded nationwide teams for maintaining a strong balance between supply reduction and public sensitization.
