Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have intercepted consignments of captagon, popularly known as the ‘Jihadi drug’, and millions of opioid pills worth over N6.2 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos. The seizures were made in separate operations between 22nd and 28th August 2026.
The first seizure occurred on Saturday, 22nd August, following the arrest of a 49-year-old cross-border kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins. Aikins arrived from Accra, Ghana aboard an African World Airlines flight and was found with 47,200 pills of captagon concealed in blocks of local bathing soap, popularly called “Ghana Soap”. The drugs, valued at over N1.5 billion, were hidden in a carton of soap. During interrogation, the suspect claimed he was to deliver the consignment in the North. Captagon, notorious for its use in funding extremist activities in conflict zones, was first intercepted in Nigeria by NDLEA in September 2021 at Apapa Port.
In another major bust at the same airport, NDLEA operatives recovered 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg from four abandoned consignments at the import shed of MMIA. The drugs, weighing a combined 2,787.40 kilograms, have a street value of over N4.6 billion. Three consignments containing 900,000 tablets of Tramaking weighing 815.40kg arrived aboard RwandAir flights from Bangladesh, while the fourth with 3,000,030 tablets of Tapentadol weighing 1,972kg came in on Qatar Airways from Amsterdam. The shipments were retrieved on Friday, 28th August, after a joint examination by NDLEA, Customs and other stakeholders, following days of surveillance after no one showed up to claim them.
Beyond Lagos, NDLEA also recorded significant arrests across several states. On 19th August, a 31-year-old US-returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, was arrested at Ikate, Lekki, Lagos, while attempting to take delivery of 3.350 kilograms of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United Kingdom. In Rivers State, operatives raided the notorious Abuja Down/Up area of Port Harcourt on Tuesday, 25th August, and cracked open a fireproof iron safe with a welding machine. Inside, they found 237 grams of Colorado, 316 grams of cocaine and 10 grams of heroin.
Further interdictions were made in Ondo and Delta States. On Friday, 28th August, three suspects — Oyedele Daniel, 42; Taye Saliu, 36; and Kehinde Saliu, 36 — were nabbed on Ipele-Idoani road with 728kg of skunk concealed in a truck marked KRE 120 XB. Two days earlier, Uche Joseph, 35, and Godwin Umeh, 21, were arrested at Aponmu forest with 341kg of the same substance. In Delta, over 176,000 pills of assorted opioids including tramadol and molly were recovered from two operations between 26th and 28th August.
The Agency said its Commands also intensified War Against Drug Abuse sensitization across the country last week. Lectures were held for students and staff of Markaz Littahfizul Quran Wal Islamiyyat in Gombe, Zangina Islamiyyah in Kano, and youths at an adolescent lifestyle programme organized by NNPCL in Benin City. The Ondo and Taraba State Commands also paid advocacy visits to Governors Dr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa and Dr. Agbu Kefas respectively.
Commending the MMIA, Ondo and Delta Commands, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa rtd, urged officers nationwide to sustain the balanced approach to drug control. He directed them to maintain pressure on traffickers who are now resorting to desperate concealment methods, including hiding drugs in everyday household items like soap, to move illicit consignments across borders.
