NDLEA has arrested a former footballer and others in major drug busts across Nigeria.
Drugs were seized in Lagos, Enugu, Kwara, and Delta during raids at airports and borders.
Lagos, Nigeria. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested former professional footballer Segun George Hunkarin, along with four others, in a sweeping drug enforcement operation that led to the seizure of 22.6 kilograms of cocaine, methamphetamine, tramadol, and cannabis at various entry points across the country.
According to an official statement from the NDLEA, Hunkarin was apprehended at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, after his alleged accomplice, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, was caught with 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800 grams hidden in his carry-on bag. Chinedu had just arrived from Turkey via an Ethiopian Airlines flight that transited through Addis Ababa, where the drugs were reportedly handed over to him.
NDLEA operatives tracked Hunkarin to the airport car park, where he was allegedly waiting to receive the consignment. He later admitted to previously trafficking drugs between Brazil and Ethiopia during his football career, but claimed he had never brought drugs into Nigeria.
Tramadol concealed as malaria drugs
In a separate operation at MMIA on June 27, NDLEA officers arrested Europe-based logistics businessman Amen Okoro Godstime for attempting to smuggle 5,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg into Nigeria. The pills were disguised in packs of malaria medications such as Lonart, Amatem, and Aluktem. Okoro reportedly planned to send the consignment to Italy after reaching his residence in France.
Arrests at Enugu airport
At Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu, two suspects were arrested while attempting to smuggle drugs into the country aboard Ethiopian Airlines flights.
One of them, Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel, a bar attendant based in Mozambique, was found with 17 parcels of methamphetamine weighing 17.5kg and three parcels of cocaine weighing 3.05kg, all concealed in bedsheets. Another suspect, 54-year-old toy seller Azu Follygan Kpodar, was intercepted with 1.25kg of liquid cocaine hidden inside a container of liquid soap labelled “YPE.” He claimed to have purchased the substance in São Paulo while shopping for his wedding in Nigeria.
Cross-border and domestic arrests
At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, a 26-year-old Beninese national, Vode Jean-Luck, was caught attempting to smuggle 69 balls of cannabis (skunk) weighing 29.5kg into Nigeria from the Benin Republic.
In Kwara State, a known drug trafficker, Mary Bolanle Oladele, widely known as “Iya Nafi,” was arrested in Omu-Aran. NDLEA officials found quantities of skunk, tramadol, and flunitrazepam at her hideout in the Irepodun Local Government Area.
Meanwhile, in Delta State, a 72-year-old grandmother, Christy Ejaro, was arrested on June 24 in the Niger CAT area of Warri. She was discovered with multiple retail-sized sachets of skunk, indicating small-scale distribution.
These arrests underscore the NDLEA intensified nationwide crackdown on narcotics trafficking through airports, land borders, and domestic supply chains. The agency reiterated its commitment to identifying both international and local drug networks, including couriers and distributors, regardless of social status or background.
The multi-layered operation highlights the agency’s evolving intelligence efforts in tackling Nigeria’s drug crisis and dismantling complex trafficking syndicates.
