The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 47,200 pills of Captagon and more than 3.9 million opioid tablets valued at over N6.2 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed the seizures in a statement on Sunday, August 30, 2026, saying the drugs were intercepted during separate operations at the Lagos airport.
According to Babafemi, NDLEA operatives seized 47,200 pills of Captagon on August 22 following the arrest of 49-year-old Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, whom the agency described as a cross-border drug trafficker.
The suspect had arrived in Lagos from Accra, Ghana, aboard an Africa World Airlines flight with a carton of locally produced bathing soap popularly known as “Ghana Soap.”
Babafemi said a search of the carton uncovered the Captagon pills concealed inside the soap blocks. The agency valued the consignment at more than N1.5 billion.
NDLEA described Captagon as an illicit amphetamine-based drug popularly dubbed the “Jihadi drug” because of its reported association with extremist activities in conflict zones.
The agency said Aikins told investigators that he was expected to deliver the consignment in northern Nigeria.
In a separate operation, NDLEA said its operatives recovered 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg from four abandoned consignments at the airport’s import shed.
According to Babafemi, the drugs had a combined gross weight of 2,787.40 kilogrammes and a street value of more than N4.6 billion.
Three consignments contained 900,000 tablets of Tramaking weighing 815.40kg and arrived aboard RwandAir flights from Bangladesh.
The fourth contained 3,000,030 tablets of Tapentadol weighing 1,972kg and arrived on a Qatar Airways flight from Amsterdam.
Babafemi said the consignments were placed under surveillance after no one came forward to claim them. They were formally retrieved on August 28 following a joint examination involving NDLEA officers, the Nigeria Customs Service and other stakeholders.
The agency also reported the arrest of 31-year-old U.S. returnee Sowunmi David Oludotun in the Ikate area of Lekki, Lagos, on August 19. NDLEA said he was arrested while attempting to take delivery of 3.35kg of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United Kingdom.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives raided a drug hotspot in Port Harcourt and recovered a fireproof iron safe. The agency said officers opened the safe with a welding machine and recovered 237 grams of Colorado, 316 grams of cocaine and 10 grams of heroin.
In Ondo State, NDLEA said three suspects were arrested on August 28 along the Ipele-Idoani Road with 728kg of skunk concealed in a truck. Two other suspects were arrested at Aponmu Forest on August 26 with another 341kg of skunk.
The agency also reported the recovery of more than 176,000 assorted opioid pills, including tramadol and Molly, in two operations conducted in Delta State between August 26 and 28.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended the officers involved in the operations and urged them to sustain enforcement efforts against drug traffickers.
Marwa, according to the statement, warned that traffickers were increasingly adopting unconventional methods, including concealing illicit drugs in everyday household items such as soap.
