Fugitive, ex‑international footballer jailed 24 years for cocaine importation

Abdullateef Fowewe

A fugitive drug kingpin, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, and an ex‑international football player, Hunkarin Segun George, have been convicted and sentenced to a combined total of 24 years imprisonment, “the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said in a statement on Monday.

Justice Musa Kakaki of the Federal High Court, Lagos, handed down the sentences after finding the men guilty of unlawful importation of a total of 7.050 kilograms of cocaine. Chinedu, first arraigned in September 2015, was sentenced to 22 years — 20 years for importing 6.250kg and two years for conspiring to import 800g — after being re‑arrested at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in June 2025.

Hunkarin received two years for the conspiracy charge.

The NDLEA noted that Chinedu had jumped bail nearly 10 years earlier and was tracked while attempting to smuggle 800 grams of cocaine on an inbound Ethiopian Airlines flight.

Investigators say Chinedu collected luggage during a transit in Addis Ababa and met Hunkarin at the Lagos airport carpark, where the latter was arrested.

Hunkarin reportedly admitted he had trafficked drugs twice from Brazil to Ethiopia while playing there.

NDLEA Chairman Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) praised the judiciary and operatives, saying the judgment “reaffirms the courts’ commitment to ridding the country of drug trafficking” and demonstrates the agency’s determination that “no drug trafficker escapes the long arm of the law.”