NDLEA Seizes N6.2bn ‘Jihadi Drug’, Opioids at Lagos Airport
Oru Leonard
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have 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 (MMIA), Lagos.
The agency also arrested a suspected cross-border drug kingpin and recovered cocaine, heroin and other illicit substances during separate operations across the country.
The NDLEA disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday by its Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
According to the agency, the captagon consignment was intercepted at the Lagos airport on Saturday, August 22, following the arrest of 49-year-old Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, who arrived from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight.
A search of his carton of local bathing soap, popularly known as “Ghana Soap”, led to the discovery of 47,200 captagon pills concealed inside blocks of soap.
The NDLEA said Aikins, who was described as a cross-border drug kingpin, claimed after his arrest that the consignment was meant to be delivered in northern Nigeria.
Captagon is an illicit amphetamine-based drug that has gained notoriety as the “Jihadi drug” because of reports of its use and association with extremist activities in conflict zones.
The agency said it first intercepted captagon in Nigeria in September 2021 at the Apapa Port in Lagos.
In another operation at the MMIA, NDLEA operatives recovered 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg from four abandoned consignments at the airport’s import shed.
The consignments, weighing a combined 2,787.40 kilogrammes, have an estimated street value of more than N4.6 billion.
The agency said three of the consignments, containing 900,000 tablets of Tramaking weighing 815.40kg, arrived on RwandAir flights from Bangladesh.
The fourth consignment contained 3,000,030 tablets of Tapentadol weighing 1,972kg and arrived on Qatar Airways from Amsterdam.
According to the NDLEA, the consignments were placed under surveillance after no one showed up to claim them. They were subsequently retrieved following a joint examination involving NDLEA officers, Customs officials and other stakeholders on Friday, August 28.
Meanwhile, a 31-year-old US returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, was arrested by NDLEA operatives in the Ikate area of Lekki on August 19.
He was arrested while allegedly attempting to take delivery of 3.350 kilogrammes of “Loud”, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United Kingdom.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives raided a notorious drug den in the Abuja Down/Up area of Port Harcourt and recovered a fireproof iron safe.
The agency said the safe was broken open 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 Ondo State, three suspects—Oyedele Daniel, 42; Taye Saliu, 36; and Kehinde Saliu, 36—were arrested on Friday, August 28, along the Ipele-Idoani road with 728kg of skunk concealed in 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 skunk.
In Delta State, NDLEA operatives recovered more than 176,000 pills of assorted opioids, including tramadol and molly, during two separate interdiction operations conducted between August 26 and 28.
Beyond its enforcement operations, the agency said its Commands and formations across the country continued with War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation programmes in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities.
The activities included sensitisation lectures for students and staff of Markaz Littahfizul Quran Wal Islamiyyat in Dadin Kowa, Gombe State, and Zangina Islamiyyah Alasawa Kurna in Ungogo Local Government Area of Kano State.
The agency also sensitised youths participating in an adolescent lifestyle programme organised by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) in Benin City, Edo State.
In addition, the Ondo State Command paid a WADA advocacy visit to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, while the Taraba Command undertook a similar visit to Governor Agbu Kefas.
Commending officers and men of the MMIA, Ondo and Delta Commands for the successful operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), urged personnel across the country to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control.
Marwa also directed officers to maintain pressure on drug traffickers who, he said, were increasingly exploring unconventional methods, including concealing illicit drugs in everyday household items such as soap, to move their consignments.
