NDLEA Seizes N6.2bn ‘Jihadi Drug’, Opioids at Lagos Airport, Arrests Cross-Border Kingpin

By Zainab Uzomah| Abuja

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted illicit drugs worth more than N6.2 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, including 47,200 tablets of captagon, popularly known as the ‘Jihadi drug,’ concealed inside local bathing soap brought from Ghana.

The 49-year-old alleged cross-border drug kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, was arrested on Saturday, August 22, 2026, after arriving from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight.

According to a statement signed by the NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, a search of his carton of “Ghana Soap” led to the recovery of the captagon tablets, valued at more than N1.5 billion. The agency said Aikins claimed during interrogation that he was expected to deliver the consignment in northern Nigeria. Captagon, an illicit amphetamine-based drug, has been associated with financing and use by extremist groups in conflict zones.

The drug was first intercepted in Nigeria by the NDLEA in September 2021 at the Apapa Port in Lagos.In a separate operation at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives recovered 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg, weighing 2,787.40 kilogrammes and valued at more than N4.6 billion. The drugs were found in four abandoned consignments at the MMIA import shed after no one came forward to claim them. Three consignments containing 900,000 Tramaking tablets arrived on RwandAir flights from Bangladesh, while the i, containing 3,000,030 Tapentadol tablets, arrived on Qatar Airways from Amsterdam.

The NDLEA said the consignments had been placed under surveillance before they were formally retrieved following a joint examination by its officers, the Nigeria Customs Service and other stakeholders on Friday, August 28.

Also in Lagos, a 31-year-old US returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, was arrested on August 19 at Ikate, Lekki, while 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 suspected drug den in the notorious Abuja Down/Up area of Port Harcourt, where they recovered a fireproof iron safe. The safe was broken open with a welding machine on Tuesday, August 25, leading to the recovery of 237 grammes of Colorado cannabis, 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 August 28 along the Ipele-Idoani Road with 728 kilogrammes of skunk concealed in their truck, while two others, Uche Joseph, 35, and Godwin Umeh, 21, were arrested in Aponmu forest with another 341 kilogrammes of the substance.

The agency also reported the recovery of more than 176,000 tablets of assorted opioids, including tramadol and molly, in two operations conducted in Delta State between August 26 and 28.

Meanwhile, NDLEA commands across the country sustained their War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation campaigns in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities. The agency said the activities included enlightenment programmes in Gombe and Kano, engagements with youths in Edo State, and advocacy visits by its Ondo and Taraba commands to Governors Lucky Aiyedatiwa and Agbu Kefas respectively.

Commending the officers involved in the operations, the NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), urged personnel nationwide to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control. He also directed officers to intensify the crackdown on traffickers who continue to devise new methods of concealing illicit drugs in everyday household items, including soap.