Ex-international footballer, fugitive drug kingpin jailed 24 years for cocaine importation

…NDLEA re-arrested fugitive after nearly 10 years on the run

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

A former international footballer, Segun George Hunkarin, and a fugitive drug trafficking suspect, Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu, have been sentenced to a combined 24 years imprisonment by the Federal High Court in Lagos for importing cocaine into Nigeria.

Justice Musa Kakaki convicted the duo over the unlawful importation of 7.050 kilograms of cocaine in two separate offences.

Chinedu was initially arraigned in September 2015 on a one-count charge (FHC/L/227C/2015) for allegedly importing 6.250 kilograms of cocaine into the country. He pleaded not guilty and was granted bail but absconded during trial, remaining at large for nearly a decade.