Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted consignments of Captagon and millions of opioid tablets with a combined street value of about N6.2 billion at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
On Saturday, August 22, 2026, agents arrested 49-year-old Akinbile Kazeem Aikins after he arrived on an African World Airlines flight from Accra, Ghana. A routine search of a carton labeled as local bathing soap - commonly called “Ghana Soap” - uncovered 47,200 Captagon tablets concealed inside the soap blocks.
The seized amphetamine-class pills are valued at more than N1.5 billion. Aikins told investigators the shipment was intended for delivery to northern Nigeria.
Captagon, often referred to as the “jihadist drug” because of its documented use to finance or fuel extremist activity in conflict zones, was first intercepted in Nigeria by NDLEA at Apapa Port in September 2021.
In a separate interdiction at the MMIA import shed, NDLEA officers recovered four abandoned consignments containing a total of 3,900,030 opioid tablets - Tramaking 225 mg and Tapentadol 250 mg - weighing about 2,787.40 kilograms and valued at over N4.6 billion.
The operation also follows other recent high-profile seizures in the region, underscoring the agency’s ongoing efforts to tackle transnational drug trafficking through Nigeria’s airports and seaports.
Three of the consignments, comprising 900,000 tablets of Tramaking (815.40kg), arrived aboard RwandAir flights from Bangladesh, while a fourth, comprising 3,000,030 tablets of Tapentadol (1,972kg), arrived on Qatar Airways from Amsterdam.
The shipments, which had been placed under close watch after no one showed up to claim them, according to a press release signed by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media and Advocacy at NDLEA headquarters, were formally retrieved after a joint examination by NDLEA officers, Customs and other stakeholders on Friday 28th August.
A 31-year-old US-returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, the statement added, was on August 19, arrested by NDLEA operatives at Ikate area of Lekki after he showed up to take delivery of 3.350 kilograms of Loud, a synthetic 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. When the safe was cracked open with a welding machine on Tuesday 25th August, 237 grams of colorado; 316 grams of cocaine, and 10 grams of heroin were recovered from it.
Three suspects: Oyedele Daniel, 42; Taye Saliu, 36; and Kehinde Saliu, 36, were on Friday 28th August nabbed at Ipele-Idoani road, in Ondo state with a total of 728kg skunk recovered from their truck marked KRE 120 XB. Two other suspects: Uche Joseph, 35, and
Godwin Umeh, 21, were arrested at Aponmu forest with 341kg of same substance on Wednesday 26thAugust.
In Delta state, over 176,000 pills of assorted opioids, including tramadol, molly and others were recovered from two interdiction operations in parts of the state between Wednesday 26th and Friday 28th August.
With the same vigour, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week. These include: WADA enlightenment lecture to students and staff of Markaz Littahfizul Quran Wal Islamiyyat, Dadin Kowa, Gombe; Zangina Islamiyyah Alasawa Kurna, Ungogo LGA, Kano; youths at the adolescent lifestyle programme organised by NNPCL in Benin city, Edo state; while the Ondo State Command of NDLEA paid a WADA advocacy visit to the State Governor, Dr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, with the Taraba state command of the Agency paying a similar advocacy visit to the State Governor, Dr. Agbu Kefas, among others.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA, Ondo, and Delta Commands for the various successful operations, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency.
He also directed them to sustain the momentum against drug traffickers who are desperate to explore every means, including concealment in everyday household items like soap, to move their illicit consignments.
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