The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted consignments of captagon, popularly known as the “Jihadi drug,” and millions of opioid tablets worth more than N6.2 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
The NDLEA said in a statement on Sunday by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, that operatives arrested a 49-year-old cross-border drug kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, at the airport on Aug. 22, 2026.
Aikins, who arrived from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight, was allegedly found with 47,200 pills of captagon concealed inside blocks of local bathing soap known as “Ghana Soap.” The drugs were valued at more than N1.5 billion.
The agency said Aikins claimed he was expected to deliver the consignment in northern Nigeria.
In a separate operation, NDLEA operatives recovered 3.9 million tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 2,787.40 kilograms 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 came forward to claim them.
The NDLEA said three consignments containing 900,000 Tramaking tablets arrived from Bangladesh on RwandAir flights, while the fourth contained 3,000,030 Tapentadol tablets shipped from Amsterdam aboard Qatar Airways.
The consignments, which had been placed under surveillance, were retrieved on Aug. 28 following a joint examination involving the NDLEA, Nigeria Customs Service and other stakeholders.
The agency also reported arrests and drug seizures in Lagos, Rivers, Ondo and Delta states.
In Lagos, a 31-year-old U.S. returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, was arrested in Lekki on Aug. 19 while allegedly attempting to take delivery of 3.35 kilograms of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United Kingdom.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives recovered 237 grams of Colorado cannabis, 316 grams of cocaine and 10 grams of heroin from a fireproof safe found in the Abuja Down/Up area of Port Harcourt.
The agency said the safe was opened with a welding machine during a raid on Aug. 25.
In Ondo State, three suspects were arrested along the Ipele-Idoani Road with 728 kilograms of skunk, while two others were arrested at Aponmu Forest with 341 kilograms of the same substance.
NDLEA operatives also recovered more than 176,000 assorted opioid pills, including tramadol and Molly, in two operations in Delta State between Aug. 26 and Aug. 28.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended the officers involved in the operations and directed personnel nationwide to sustain efforts against drug traffickers.
Marwa warned that traffickers were increasingly using everyday household items to conceal illicit drugs and urged officers to remain vigilant.
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