The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it has arrested an ex-international footballer Segun George Hunkarin along with his businessman partner Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu over attempt to smuggle a consignment of cocaine into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport,(MMIA) Ikeja, Lagos.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters Abuja, Femi Babafemi, in a statement yesterday, said Chinedu, known for conveying clothes from Turkey to Nigeria and foodstuffs from Nigeria to Turkey, was the first to be arrested upon his arrival at the Lagos airport on Tuesday.
Babafemi said a search of the suspect’s carry-on bag revealed 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800 grams were concealed therein.
He said investigation showed that the suspect was coming from Turkey on Ethiopian Airlines flight but transited through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he collected the luggage from another person before heading to Nigeria.
He said: “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 car park.
“In his statement, Hunkarin claimed that while playing professional football in the South American country, he had only trafficked drugs twice from Brazil to Ethiopia but has never brought any to Nigeria.”
Babafemi added that another Europe based businessman Amen Okoro Godstime was on Friday 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.
Godstime, he said, 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.”
“At the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA) Enugu, NDLEA operatives on Friday intercepted a Maputo, Mozambique based bar attendant Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel. 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 Ethiopian Airlines flight when he was interdicted and subjected to a search during which the illicit drugs concealed in bed sheets packed in his bags were discovered.
“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 arrived from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was searched, a liquid soap plastic container marked YPE, 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 to cocaine. The substance which turned out to be liquid cocaine weighed 1.250kg.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives at the Seme border area of Badagry in Lagos on Tuesday intercepted 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.
