The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled several drug trafficking syndicates, arresting an ex-footballer, multiple businessmen, a Beninese national, and a 72-year-old Nigerian grandmother in sweeping operations.
It was learnt that the operation uncovered a total of 22.6 kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine, along with other narcotics, at major airports and border points across the country.
Among the high-profile arrests was that of former professional footballer, Segun George Hunkarin, who was apprehended alongside his partner, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
Chinedu, known for his frequent trips ferrying clothes from Turkey to Nigeria and foodstuffs back to Turkey, was intercepted on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, after arriving from Turkey via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
NDLEA operatives found 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800 grams concealed in his carry-on bag.
Investigations revealed that Chinedu collected the illicit package in Addis Ababa.
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Hunkarin, who once played football professionally in Brazil, was arrested at the airport car park, while waiting to receive the consignment.
In his statement, Hunkarin confessed to previously trafficking drugs twice from Brazil to Ethiopia, but claimed this was his first attempt in Nigeria.
In another incident, Europe-based businessman, Amen Okoro Godstime was nabbed on Friday, June 27, at the Lagos airport, while attempting to smuggle 5,000 pills of tramadol 225mg disguised as popular malaria drugs such as Lonart, Amatem, and Aluktem.
He was intercepted during outward passenger screening for a Royal Air Maroc flight to Spain via Casablanca.
Okoro, who operates a freight and logistics business between Europe and Nigeria, confessed he planned to travel onward from Spain to France and ship the tramadol to Italy for retail distribution.
At the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, NDLEA officers on Friday, June 27, arrested Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel, a bar attendant based in Maputo, Mozambique.
A search of his luggage revealed 17 parcels of methamphetamine weighing 17.5 kilograms and three parcels of cocaine weighing 3.05 kilograms, all concealed inside bedsheets.
Also intercepted at the same airport was 54-year-old Azu Follygan Kpodar, who arrived from São Paulo, Brazil, on the same flight.
NDLEA operatives discovered a plastic liquid soap container labeled YPE in his luggage, which forensic analysis confirmed contained 1.25 kilograms of liquid cocaine.
Kpodar, who trades in toys in Brinquedo, São Paulo, claimed he bought the substance while shopping for his wedding in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives at the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, on June 24, arrested 26-year-old Beninese national, Vode Jean-Luck, caught attempting to smuggle 69 balls of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 29.5 kilograms from Benin Republic into Nigeria.
In Kwara State, notorious drug dealer Mary Bolanle Oladele, popularly known as “Iya Nafi,” was apprehended on June 25 in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area, where NDLEA seized various quantities of skunk, tramadol, and flunitrazepam from her residence.
In Delta State, NDLEA officers arrested 72-year-old Mrs. Christy Ejaro on June 24 at Niger CAT area in Warri.
Multiple sachets of skunk packaged for retail sale were recovered from the elderly suspect.
