A Federal High Court in Lagos has sentenced a fugitive drug kingpin, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, and a former international footballer, Hunkarin Segun George, to a combined 24 years in prison without the option of a fine for importing 7.050 kilograms of cocaine into Nigeria.
Delivering the judgment on Friday, July 24, 2026, Justice Musa Kakaki handed Chinedu a total sentence of 22 years 20 years for a 2015 drug importation charge and two years for a recent conspiracy charge. Hunkarin received a two-year sentence for his role in the conspiracy.
Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu was sentenced to 22 Years Total, for a 2015 Offense.
He was originally arraigned in September 2015 for unlawfully importing 6.250 kg of cocaine. After being granted bail, he jumped bail and remained a fugitive for nearly a decade.
On June 24, 2025, NDLEA operatives re-arrested Chinedu at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos after he arrived on an Ethiopian Airlines flight with 800 grams of cocaine.
Hunkarin Segun George, a former professional footballer who previously played in Brazil bagged 2 years. He was tracked down and arrested in the airport parking lot while waiting to collect the 800-gram cocaine consignment from Chinedu.
Investigations revealed that Chinedu, who frequently traveled between Nigeria and Turkey, collected the drug parcel during a transit stop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In his statement, Hunkarin admitted to having trafficked drugs twice before from Brazil to Ethiopia during his football career.
During the trial, prosecution counsel Barrister Adekunle Adebajo urged the court to apply strict penalties under the NDLEA Act, highlighting Chinedu’s decade-long evasion of justice. Defense counsel Chief Benson Ndakara and Chief Emefo Etudo appealed for leniency and requested fine options, but Justice Kakaki rejected the plea, ruling exclusively for custodial sentences.
Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), Chairman/CEO of the NDLEA, commended the judiciary for the verdict, calling it a strong statement against drug trafficking.
He praised the agency’s operatives for their tenacity in tracking down Chinedu after nearly 10 years on the run, reaffirming the NDLEA’s commitment to ensuring no offender escapes justice regardless of time or status.
