NDLEA seizes N6.2bn ‘jihadi drug’, opioids at Lagos airport

By Adebola Muili

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 47,200 pills of captagon, popularly known as ‘Jihadi drug’, and more than 3.9 million tablets of assorted opioids worth over N6.2 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

The agency also arrested a 49-year-old cross-border drug kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, who allegedly concealed the captagon shipment inside blocks of local bathing soap popularly known as “Ghana Soap”.

A statement issued on Sunday by the NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said Aikins was arrested on Saturday, August 22, 2026, after arriving at the Lagos airport from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight.

According to the agency, a search of the carton of soap in his possession led to the recovery of the 47,200 captagon pills, valued at more than N1.5 billion.

The suspect allegedly told NDLEA operatives that he was to deliver the consignment in northern Nigeria.

Captagon, an illicit amphetamine drug, has been dubbed the ‘Jihadi drug’ because of its reported association with the financing of extremist activities in conflict zones.

The NDLEA said it first intercepted captagon in Nigeria in September 2021 at the Apapa Port in Lagos.

In a separate operation at the MMIA, the agency recovered 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 2,787.40kg and an estimated street value of more than N4.6 billion.

The drugs were recovered from four abandoned consignments at the airport’s import shed after no one appeared to claim them.

Three of the consignments contained 900,000 tablets of Tramaking weighing 815.40kg and arrived aboard RwandAir flights from Bangladesh, while the fourth contained 3,000,030 tablets of Tapentadol weighing 1,972kg and arrived aboard Qatar Airways from Amsterdam.

The shipments had been placed under surveillance before they were formally retrieved following a joint examination by NDLEA officers, the Nigeria Customs Service and other stakeholders on Friday, August 28.

Also in Lagos, a 31-year-old United States returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, was arrested on August 19 in the Ikate area of Lekki while allegedly attempting to take delivery of 3.350kg of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United Kingdom.

NDLEA Recovers Cocaine, Heroin From Safe in Rivers

In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives raided the notorious Abuja Down/Up area of Port Harcourt and recovered a fireproof iron safe containing illicit drugs.

The agency said the safe was cracked open with a welding machine on Tuesday, August 25, leading to the recovery of 237 grammes of Colorado, 316 grammes of cocaine and 10 grammes of heroin.

In Ondo State, three suspects — Oyedele Daniel, 42; Taye Saliu, 36; and Kehinde Saliu, 36 — were arrested on Friday, August 28, along the Ipele-Idoani Road with 728kg of skunk concealed in their truck marked KRE 120 XB.

Two other suspects, Uche Joseph, 35, and Godwin Umeh, 21, were also arrested at Aponmu forest on Wednesday, August 26, with 341kg of the same substance.

In Delta State, the agency recovered more than 176,000 tablets of assorted opioids, including tramadol and molly, in two separate interdiction operations conducted between Wednesday, August 26 and Friday, August 28.

Meanwhile, NDLEA commands and formations across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities.

The activities included enlightenment lectures for students and staff of Markaz Littahfizul Quran Wal Islamiyyat, Dadin Kowa, Gombe State, and Zangina Islamiyyah Alasawa Kurna, Ungogo Local Government Area of Kano State.

The agency also sensitised youths at an adolescent lifestyle programme organised by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) in Benin City, Edo State.

Similarly, the Ondo State Command paid a WADA advocacy visit to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, while the Taraba State Command visited Governor Agbu Kefas on a similar advocacy mission.

Commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Ondo and Delta Commands for the successful operations, the NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, 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 he said were becoming desperate and exploring different methods, including concealing illicit drugs in everyday household items such as soap.