By Kazeem Ugbodaga
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has intercepted 47,200 pills of Captagon, popularly known as the “Jihadi drug”, alongside more than 3.9 million opioid tablets with a combined street value exceeding N6.2 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
The seizures, recorded in separate operations, also led to the arrest of a suspected cross-border drug kingpin and exposed increasingly sophisticated methods allegedly being employed by traffickers to smuggle dangerous substances into Nigeria.
NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed the development in a statement on Sunday, August 30, 2026.
Babafemi said operatives intercepted the Captagon consignment on August 22 following the arrest of 49-year-old Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, who arrived in Lagos from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight.
He said a search of Aikins’ carton of local bathing soap, popularly known as “Ghana Soap”, led to the discovery of 47,200 Captagon pills concealed inside the blocks of soap.
According to Babafemi, the consignment had an estimated street value of more than N1.5 billion.
“After his arrest, Akinbile claimed he was meant to deliver the consignment in the North,” Babafemi said.
The interception is particularly significant because Captagon has previously been associated with armed groups and illicit drug networks in the Middle East. Nigeria recorded its first major interception of the substance in September 2021, when 451,807 tablets weighing 74.119 kilogrammes were seized at Apapa Port in Lagos.
In that operation, the drugs, valued at about N6 billion at the time, were concealed inside imported machinery. The NDLEA had said intelligence from international partners helped track the shipment from the Middle East before it reached Nigeria.
Babafemi said another major interception at the Lagos airport involved 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 2,787.40 kilogrammes and a street value of more than N4.6 billion.
He stated that the drugs were recovered from four abandoned consignments at the MMIA import shed after no one appeared to claim them.
Three of the consignments contained 900,000 tablets of Tramaking weighing 815.40kg and arrived on RwandAir flights from Bangladesh, while the fourth contained 3,000,030 Tapentadol tablets weighing 1,972kg and arrived aboard Qatar Airways from Amsterdam.
Babafemi explained that the consignments were placed under surveillance after they were abandoned before NDLEA operatives, Customs officials and other stakeholders jointly examined and retrieved them on August 28.
The latest seizures add to growing concerns over the movement of large quantities of opioids through Nigeria’s international entry points. In May, the NDLEA reported the interception of 1,825,710 Tapentadol 250mg tablets worth about N2.19 billion at the Lagos airport.
Babafemi also disclosed that NDLEA operatives arrested a 31-year-old United States returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, in the Ikate area of Lekki on August 19.
He said Oludotun was arrested when he allegedly arrived to take delivery of 3.350 kilogrammes of “Loud”, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United Kingdom.
In Rivers State, Babafemi said NDLEA operatives raided a notorious drug den in the Abuja Down/Up area of Port Harcourt, where they recovered a fireproof iron safe.
He stated that the safe was cracked open with a welding machine on August 25, revealing 237 grammes of Colorado, 316 grammes of cocaine and 10 grammes of heroin.
The agency also reported significant cannabis seizures in Ondo State.
Babafemi said three suspects-Oyedele Daniel, 42; Taye Saliu, 36; and Kehinde Saliu, 36, were arrested on August 28 along the Ipele-Idoani Road with 728kg of skunk allegedly being conveyed in a truck marked KRE 120 XB.
He added that two other suspects, Uche Joseph, 35, and Godwin Umeh, 21, were arrested at Aponmu Forest on August 26 with another 341kg of the same substance.
In Delta State, Babafemi said more than 176,000 pills of assorted opioids, including tramadol and Molly, were recovered during two separate operations between August 26 and 28.
Marwa orders sustained pressure
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), commended the officers involved in the operations and directed them to maintain pressure on drug traffickers.
Babafemi quoted Marwa as urging NDLEA personnel across the country to sustain the agency’s “balanced approach” to drug control, combining enforcement with prevention and public awareness.
He said Marwa specifically directed officers to maintain the momentum against traffickers who continue to devise new methods of concealing illicit drugs, including the use of ordinary household products such as soap.
