Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have intercepted consignments of captagon, popularly known as the ‘Jihadi drug’, and millions of opioid pills worth more than N6.2 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
Babafemi said the captagon consignment was seized at the Lagos airport on Saturday, August 22, 2026, following the arrest of a 49-year-old cross-border drug kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins.
Aikins, who arrived from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight, was arrested after NDLEA operatives searched a carton containing local bathing soap, popularly known as “Ghana Soap.”
The search led to the recovery of 47,200 pills of captagon concealed inside blocks of soap, with an estimated street value of more than N1.5 billion.
Captagon, an illicit amphetamine-based drug, has been dubbed the “Jihadi drug” because of its reported use in funding extremist activities in conflict zones.
The NDLEA said the substance was first intercepted in Nigeria in September 2021 at the Apapa Port in Lagos.
Following his arrest, Aikins reportedly told investigators that he was expected to deliver the consignment in northern Nigeria.
In a separate operation at the Lagos airport, the agency recovered 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg, weighing a combined 2,787.40kg and valued at more than N4.6 billion.
The drugs were recovered from four abandoned consignments at the import shed of the MMIA.
Three of the consignments, containing 900,000 tablets of Tramaking weighing 815.40kg, arrived aboard RwandAir flights from Bangladesh, while the fourth consignment contained 3,000,030 tablets of Tapentadol weighing 1,972kg and arrived on Qatar Airways from Amsterdam.
Babafemi said the consignments were placed under close watch after no one came forward to claim them.
They were formally retrieved following a joint examination conducted by NDLEA officers, the Nigeria Customs Service and other stakeholders on Friday, August 28.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives arrested a 31-year-old US returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, on August 19 in the Ikate area of Lekki, Lagos.
Oludotun was arrested after he allegedly showed up to take delivery of 3.350kg of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, imported from the United Kingdom.
Fireproof safe cracked open in Rivers drug den raid
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives raided the notorious Abuja Down/Up area of Port Harcourt, where they recovered a fireproof iron safe among other items.
The agency said the safe was opened with a welding machine on Tuesday, August 25, leading to the recovery of 237 grams of Colorado, 316 grams of cocaine and 10 grams of heroin.
In Ondo State, three suspects — Oyedele Daniel, 42; Taye Saliu, 36; and Kehinde Saliu, 36 — were arrested on Friday, August 28, along Ipele-Idoani Road with 728kg of skunk.
The drugs were recovered from their truck, marked KRE 120 XB.
Two other suspects, Uche Joseph, 35, and Godwin Umeh, 21, were arrested at Aponmu Forest on Wednesday, August 26, with 341kg of the same substance.
In Delta State, more than 176,000 pills of assorted opioids, including tramadol and Molly, were recovered during two interdiction operations conducted between Wednesday, August 26, and Friday, August 28.
The NDLEA also continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns across the country during the week.
The activities included enlightenment lectures for students and staff of Markaz Littahfizul Quran Wal Islamiyyat in Dadin Kowa, Gombe State, and Zangina Islamiyyah Alasawa Kurna in Ungogo Local Government Area of Kano State.
The agency also sensitised youths participating in an adolescent lifestyle programme organised by NNPCL in Benin City, Edo State.
The Ondo State Command conducted a WADA advocacy visit to the state governor, Dr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, while the Taraba State Command paid a similar visit to Governor Agbu Kefas.
Commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Ondo and Delta Commands for the operations, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), urged them and their colleagues nationwide to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control.
Marwa also directed the operatives to maintain the momentum against drug traffickers who continue to devise new methods, including concealing illicit drugs in everyday household items such as soap.
