Ex Nigerian Footballer Okafor Emmanuel Arrested With Cocaine At Lagos Airport

Category: Crime News

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested an ex-footballer, Emmanuel Okafor, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, with 1.40kg of crack cocaine concealed in his bags. 

Okafor, 33, had only arrived from Sao Paulo, Brazil via an Ethiopian Airlines flight when he was arrested on September 26.

NDLEA said in a statement on Sunday that anti-narcotic officers discovered he concealed the illicit substance in the handles of his bags and padded the top edges of same with the class A drug.

Okafor is an indigene of Arochukwu Local Government, Abia State.

During a preliminary interview, Okafor disclosed that he was an ex-footballer with the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu FC, where he played for four seasons before leaving for Sri Lanka in 2014.

He further stated that he moved to Brazil from Sri Lanka after playing for two seasons but could not advance his football career in Brazil due to lack of official documents.

Also, an attempt by a 32-year-old woman Pamela Odin to traffic 2.150kg tablets of rohypnol through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja to Istanbul, Turkey was thwarted by NDLEA operatives.

The mother of one was arrested on Friday September 23 while attempting to board a Turkish airline flight with the drug concealed inside the pepper and packed among foodstuff.

According to the NDLEA, the indigene of Afiesere village, Ughelli North Local Government, Delta State said she operates a restaurant in Istanbul, Turkey but came to Nigeria to see her relatives and buy food items for her restaurant business.