The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has uncovered a major international drug trafficking operation spanning Africa, Europe and Asia, intercepting illicit consignments worth more than N6.2 billion in Lagos while arresting a suspected cross-border kingpin and several other traffickers.
The seizures expose the increasingly sophisticated methods being deployed by drug syndicates to move narcotics into Nigeria, including the concealment of 47,200 tablets of captagon, notoriously known as the “Jihadi drug,” inside ordinary blocks of bathing soap imported from Ghana.
The captagon haul, valued at more than N1.5 billion, was intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, after NDLEA operatives arrested 49-year-old Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, who arrived from Accra aboard an African World Airlines flight.
But the captagon seizure represented only part of a larger haul uncovered at the airport.
NDLEA operatives also recovered 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined weight of 2,787.40 kilogrammes and an estimated street value exceeding N4.6 billion, from four abandoned consignments.
The spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday, said the shipments originated from multiple international routes, with three consignments containing 900,000 tablets of Tramaking arriving from Bangladesh through RwandAir, while another shipment containing more than three million Tapentadol tablets arrived from Amsterdam aboard Qatar Airways.
He noted that the scale and geographical spread of the seizures point to a sophisticated transnational trafficking chain exploiting Nigeria’s international aviation routes and commercial cargo channels to move dangerous pharmaceutical opioids and illicit stimulants into the country.
The development came as NDLEA operations across several states yielded further major seizures, including cocaine, heroin, Colorado and more than one tonne of cannabis, underscoring the expanding challenge confronting Nigeria’s drug-control authorities.
In Rivers State, operatives cracked open a fireproof iron safe recovered from a notorious drug den in Port Harcourt, discovering 316 grammes of cocaine, 10 grammes of heroin and 237 grammes of Colorado concealed inside.
In Ondo State, five suspects were arrested in separate operations with a combined 1,069 kilogrammes of skunk, while Delta State recorded the recovery of more than 176,000 assorted opioid pills.
The latest operations highlight not only the sheer volume of illicit drugs being moved through Nigeria but also the increasingly inventive concealment techniques and international routes being exploited by traffickers.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd.), commended the officers involved and ordered personnel across the country to sustain the pressure on traffickers.
He specifically directed operatives to remain vigilant against syndicates deploying unconventional concealment methods, including the use of everyday household items such as bathing soap to smuggle illicit consignments.
With millions of opioid tablets intercepted alongside captagon, cocaine, heroin and cannabis in one week, the NDLEA seizures provide a stark picture of the scale, sophistication and international reach of Nigeria’s illicit drug trade.
