The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted illicit drugs worth billions of naira in a series of operations across Lagos, Rivers, Ondo and Delta states, including a consignment of Captagon valued at more than N1.5 billion.
The agency on Sunday, said the Captagon shipment was seized at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Saturday, August 22, following the arrest of 49-year-old suspected cross-border drug kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins.
Aikins, who arrived in Nigeria from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight, was arrested after NDLEA operatives searched his carton of local bathing soap, popularly known as “Ghana Soap.”
The search reportedly led to the discovery of 47,200 pills of Captagon, an illicit amphetamine-type drug, concealed inside blocks of soap. The consignment was estimated to be worth over N1.5 billion.
The NDLEA noted that Captagon, which has earned the nickname “Jihadi drug” because of its reported links to the financing of extremist activities in conflict zones, was first intercepted in Nigeria in September 2021 at the Apapa Port in Lagos.
Following his arrest, Aikins allegedly told investigators that he was expected to deliver the consignment in northern Nigeria.
In another major seizure at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives recovered 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined weight of 2,787.40kg and an estimated street value exceeding N4.6 billion.
The drugs were discovered in four abandoned consignments at the import shed of the MMIA after no individual appeared to claim them.
According to the agency, three of the consignments contained 900,000 tablets of Tramaking with a total weight of 815.40kg. The consignments arrived aboard RwandAir flights from Bangladesh.
The fourth consignment contained 3,000,030 tablets of Tapentadol weighing 1,972kg and was brought into the country aboard Qatar Airways from Amsterdam.
The NDLEA said the consignments had been placed under surveillance before they were formally retrieved on Friday, August 28, following a joint examination involving the agency, the Nigeria Customs Service and other relevant stakeholders.
Meanwhile, the agency also arrested a 31-year-old United States returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, at Ikate, Lekki, Lagos, on August 19.
Oludotun was allegedly arrested while attempting 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 Abuja Down/Up area of Port Harcourt, where they recovered a fireproof iron safe containing various illicit drugs.
The agency said the safe was opened with a welding machine on Tuesday, August 25, leading to the recovery of 237g of Colorado cannabis, 316g of cocaine and 10g of heroin.
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In Ondo State, three suspects identified as Oyedele Daniel, 42; Taye Saliu, 36; and Kehinde Saliu, 36, were arrested along the Ipele-Idoani Road on Friday, August 28.
The suspects were allegedly found with 728kg of skunk concealed in a truck with registration number KRE 120 XB.
Two other suspects, Uche Joseph, 35, and Godwin Umeh, 21, were also arrested at Aponmu Forest on Wednesday, August 26, with 341kg of skunk.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives in Delta State recovered more than 176,000 tablets of assorted opioids, including tramadol and Molly, during two separate interdiction operations conducted between August 26 and 28.
Commending the officers involved in the operations, the NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), urged personnel across the country to sustain the agency’s efforts against drug trafficking.
Marwa said traffickers were becoming increasingly desperate and were adopting new methods to move illicit substances into and across the country.
He specifically warned against the concealment of narcotics in ordinary household products.
“Drug traffickers are desperate to explore every means, including concealment in everyday household items like soap, to move their illicit consignments,” Marwa said.
He urged NDLEA personnel to remain vigilant and intensify operations against drug trafficking networks nationwide.