Ex-Footballer, Fugitive Trafficker Jailed Over Cocaine Importation

A former international footballer and a fugitive drug trafficker have been sentenced by the Federal High Court in Lagos over cocaine importation offences.

The case involved 7.05 kilograms of cocaine and a defendant who had been at large for almost a decade after jumping bail in an earlier drug case.

Punch reported that Justice Musa Kakaki sentenced Ntoruka Chinedu and Segun George Hunkarin after finding them guilty of offences linked to the unlawful importation of cocaine. The report said Chinedu was first arraigned in September 2015 over 6.25 kilograms of cocaine, but absconded after he was granted bail.

Daily Post also reported that Chinedu was rearrested by NDLEA operatives on June 24, 2025, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos while allegedly trying to smuggle another 800 grams of cocaine into Nigeria on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa.

The reports said investigators traced the consignment to a stopover in Ethiopia after Chinedu travelled from Turkey. Hunkarin, who had played professional football in Brazil, was arrested at the airport car park while waiting to receive the shipment.

According to Punch, Chinedu received 20 years for the 2015 importation case and two more years over the later conspiracy. Hunkarin received a two-year sentence for conspiracy, bringing the combined sentence to 24 years.

The NDLEA said the case showed its pursuit of suspects who flee after being granted bail.

Sources: Punch, Daily Post