The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted illicit drugs valued at more than N6.2 billion in separate operations across Nigeria, including a consignment of the amphetamine-based drug captagon concealed inside locally made bathing soap at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
The captagon shipment was intercepted on Saturday, August 22, 2026, following the arrest of 49-year-old cross-border drug kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, who arrived in Lagos from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight.
According to the NDLEA, officers searched his carton of locally made bathing soap, popularly known as “Ghana Soap,” and discovered 47,200 pills of captagon hidden inside blocks of the soap. The consignment was estimated to be worth more than N1.5 billion.
Captagon, an illicit amphetamine-based stimulant, has been associated with drug trafficking networks and armed groups in conflict zones, earning it the nickname “Jihadi drug.” The NDLEA recorded its first interception of the substance in Nigeria in September 2021 at the Apapa Port in Lagos.
Following his arrest, Aikins reportedly told investigators that the drugs were intended for delivery in northern Nigeria.
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 with a combined gross weight of 2,787.40kg.
The agency said the drugs had an estimated street value of more than N4.6 billion.
Three of the consignments contained 900,000 tablets of Tramaking weighing 815.40kg and had arrived from Bangladesh aboard RwandAir flights. The fourth consignment, containing 3,000,030 tablets of Tapentadol weighing 1,972kg, arrived from Amsterdam on a Qatar Airways flight.
The consignments were placed under surveillance after their intended recipients failed to appear for collection. They were subsequently retrieved and examined jointly by NDLEA officers, Customs officials and other stakeholders on Friday, August 28.
Beyond the airport seizures, the anti-narcotics agency also reported arrests and drug recoveries in several states.
In Lagos, a 31-year-old United States returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, was arrested on August 19 in the Ikate area of Lekki while attempting to receive 3.350kg of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis allegedly imported from the United Kingdom.
In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives raided a suspected drug den in the Abuja Down/Up area of Port Harcourt, where they recovered a fireproof iron safe. After the safe was opened with a welding machine on Tuesday, August 25, officers found 237 grams of Colorado cannabis, 316 grams of cocaine and 10 grams of heroin.
Meanwhile, five suspects were arrested in separate operations in Ondo State, with 1,069kg of cannabis recovered.
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 an additional 341kg of the same substance.
In Delta State, NDLEA operatives also recovered more than 176,000 tablets of assorted opioids, including tramadol and Molly, during two interdiction operations conducted between August 26 and 28.
The agency also said its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign continued across the country, with officers conducting sensitisation programmes in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities.
The activities included enlightenment lectures in Gombe and Kano, an adolescent lifestyle programme organised by NNPCL in Benin City, Edo State, and advocacy visits by NDLEA commands in Ondo and Taraba states to Governors Lucky Aiyedatiwa and Agbu Kefas respectively.
Commending officers involved in the operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), urged personnel to sustain the fight against drug trafficking.
Marwa also directed officers to maintain vigilance against traffickers who continue to devise new methods of concealing and transporting illicit drugs, including the use of ordinary household items such as bathing soap.
