By Odita Sunday
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted illicit drug consignments worth more than N6.2 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, including 47,200 pills of captagon, popularly known as the ‘Jihadi drug’, concealed inside blocks of Ghanaian bathing soap.
The agency also arrested a 49-year-old cross-border drug kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, who allegedly arrived in Lagos from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight with the consignment.
According to the NDLEA, Aikins was arrested on Saturday, August 22, 2026, after operatives searched his carton of local bathing soap, popularly known as “Ghana Soap”, and discovered the captagon pills concealed within the soap.
The consignment, valued at more than N1.5 billion, was seized at the Lagos airport.
Captagon, an illicit amphetamine drug, is notoriously referred to as the ‘Jihadi drug’ because of its reported use in funding extremist activities in conflict zones.
The NDLEA said captagon was first intercepted in Nigeria by the agency in September 2021 at the Apapa Port in Lagos.
Following his arrest, Aikins reportedly told investigators that he was expected to deliver the consignment in the North.
In a separate operation at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives recovered 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg from four abandoned consignments at the import shed of the MMIA.
The consignments, weighing a combined 2,787.40 kilogrammes, have a street value of more than N4.6 billion.
The agency said three of the consignments contained 900,000 tablets of Tramaking, weighing 815.40kg, and arrived aboard RwandAir flights from Bangladesh.
The fourth consignment contained 3,000,030 tablets of Tapentadol, weighing 1,972kg, and arrived aboard Qatar Airways from Amsterdam.
The shipments were placed under close watch after no one showed up to claim them before they were formally retrieved following a joint examination by NDLEA officers, Customs and other stakeholders on Friday, August 28, 2026.
Meanwhile, a 31-year-old United States returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, was arrested by NDLEA operatives on August 19 at the Ikate area of Lekki, Lagos, after he allegedly showed up to take delivery of 3.350 kilogrammes of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United Kingdom.
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.
The agency said the safe was opened 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 another operation, three suspects: Oyedele Daniel, 42; Taye Saliu, 36; and Kehinde Saliu, 36 were arrested on Friday, August 28, along the Ipele-Idoani Road in Ondo State, with 728kg of skunk recovered from their truck marked KRE 120 XB.
Two other suspects, Uche Joseph, 35, and Godwin Umeh, 21, were arrested at Aponmu forest on Wednesday, August 26, with 341kg of the same substance.
In Delta State, NDLEA operatives recovered more than 176,000 pills of assorted opioids, including tramadol and molly, in two interdiction operations conducted between Wednesday, August 26, and Friday, August 28.
Beyond its interdiction operations, the agency said its commands and formations across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities during the week.
The activities included WADA enlightenment lectures for students and staff of Markaz Littahfizul Quran Wal Islamiyyat, Dadin Kowa, Gombe; Zangina Islamiyyah Alasawa Kurna, Ungogo LGA, Kano; and youths participating in an adolescent lifestyle programme organised by NNPCL in Benin City, Edo State.
The Ondo State Command also paid a WADA advocacy visit to the State Governor, Dr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, while the Taraba State Command paid a similar advocacy visit to the State Governor, Dr. Agbu Kefas.
Commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Ondo and Delta Commands for their successful operations, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, 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 increasingly exploring unconventional methods, including concealing illicit consignments in everyday household items such as soap.
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