NDLEA intercepts N6.2bn worth of ‘Jihadi drug’ in Ghana soap, opioids at Lagos airport

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted consignments of Captagon, widely known as the ‘Jihadi drug’, and millions of opioid pills worth over N6.2 billion at the Lagos International Airport.

The Director, Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Sunday that the Captagon shipment was seized at the Lagos airport on August 22, 2026, following the arrest of a 49-year-old cross-border kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, who arrived from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight.

A search of his carton of local bathing soap, popularly called ‘Ghana Soap’, led to the recovery of 47,200 pills of the illicit amphetamine drug worth over N1.5 billion, concealed within blocks of soap.

Captagon, which is notoriously dubbed the ‘Jihadi drug’ because of its reported use in funding extremist activities in conflict zones, was first intercepted in Nigeria by the NDLEA in September 2021 at the Apapa Port in Lagos.

After his arrest, the statement said Akinbile claimed he was meant to deliver the consignment in the North.

In another successful interdiction operation at the Lagos airport, no fewer than 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 2,787.40kg and a street value of more than N4.6 billion, were recovered from four abandoned consignments at the import shed of the Lagos airport.

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, were formally retrieved following a joint examination by NDLEA officers, Customs officials and other stakeholders on August 28.

The statement said a 31-year-old US returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, was arrested by NDLEA operatives on August 19 in the Ikate area of Lekki after he showed up to take delivery of 3.350kg 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. When the safe was cracked open with a welding machine on August 25, 237g of Colorado, 316g of cocaine and 10g of heroin were recovered from it.

Three suspects, Oyedele Daniel, Taye Saliu and Kehinde Saliu, were arrested on Friday along the Ipele-Idoani Road in Ondo State with a total of 728kg of skunk recovered from their truck, marked KRE 120 XB.

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

In Delta State, more than 176,000 pills of assorted opioids, including tramadol, molly and others, were recovered in two interdiction operations carried out in parts of the state between August 26 and 28.

Meanwhile, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities, among others, in the past week.

While commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Ondo and Delta Commands for the various successful operations, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Marwa (rtd.), enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the Agency’s balanced approach to drug control efforts.

He also directed them to sustain the momentum against drug traffickers who are desperate to explore every means, including concealing illicit consignments in everyday household items such as soap.