The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has uncovered a multimillion-naira drug trafficking operation at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, intercepting captagon, popularly known as the “Jihadi drug,” and millions of opioid tablets worth more than N6.2 billion.
The operation led to the arrest of a 49-year-old cross-border drug kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, who was arrested on Saturday, August 22, 2026, shortly after arriving in Lagos from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight.
NDLEA operatives reportedly found 47,200 captagon pills valued at over N1.5 billion concealed inside blocks of locally made bathing soap, popularly known as “Ghana Soap,” in his luggage.
According to the agency, Aikins told investigators that he was expected to deliver the consignment to northern Nigeria.
In a separate operation at the airport’s import shed, the NDLEA 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 consignments had been abandoned after nobody came forward to claim them. Three consignments containing 900,000 Tramaking tablets arrived from Bangladesh aboard RwandAir flights, while 3,000,030 Tapentadol tablets arrived from Amsterdam on Qatar Airways.
The NDLEA said the consignments were placed under surveillance before they were formally retrieved on August 28 during a joint examination involving the agency, Customs and other stakeholders.
The crackdown extended to other parts of the country. In Rivers State, NDLEA officers raided a notorious drug den in the Abuja Down/Up area of Port Harcourt, recovering a fireproof iron safe containing 237 grammes of Colorado, 316 grammes of cocaine and 10 grammes of heroin.
In Ondo State, five suspects were arrested in separate operations, with 1,069 kilogrammes of skunk recovered, while Delta State recorded the seizure of more than 176,000 assorted opioid pills.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), commended the officers involved in the operations and directed personnel nationwide to sustain the pressure on drug traffickers.
Marwa warned that traffickers were becoming increasingly desperate and creative in concealing illicit drugs, including the use of ordinary household items such as bathing soap.
The agency also said its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaign continued during the week across schools, religious institutions, workplaces and communities.
