NDLEA SEIZES ‘JIHADI DRUG’, MILLIONS OF OPIOID TABLETS WORTH OVER N6.2BN IN LAGOS

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By Aishat Momoh. O.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted consignments of captagon, popularly known as the “Jihadi drug”, and millions of opioid tablets worth more than N6.2 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The NDLEA disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.

According to the agency, its operatives at the Lagos airport on August 22 arrested a 49-year-old alleged cross-border drug kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, who arrived from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight.

A search of his carton of local bathing soap, popularly known as “Ghana Soap”, reportedly led to the discovery of 47,200 pills of captagon concealed inside blocks of soap.

The agency valued the seized captagon at more than N1.5 billion.

NDLEA said Aikins claimed after his arrest that he was expected to deliver the consignment in northern Nigeria.

Captagon, an amphetamine-based illicit drug, has gained notoriety for its reported use among combatants and extremist groups in conflict zones. The NDLEA said it first intercepted the drug in Nigeria in September 2021 at the Apapa Port in Lagos.

In a separate operation at the MMIA, the agency recovered 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 2,787.40kg and an estimated street value of more than N4.6 billion.

The drugs were recovered from four abandoned consignments at the airport’s import shed after no individual appeared to claim them.

According to the agency, three of the consignments contained 900,000 tablets of Tramaking weighing 815.40kg, which arrived aboard RwandAir flights from Bangladesh.

The fourth consignment contained 3,000,030 tablets of Tapentadol weighing 1,972kg and arrived on a Qatar Airways flight from Amsterdam.

The consignments, which had been placed under surveillance, were formally retrieved on August 28 following a joint examination involving NDLEA operatives, the Nigeria Customs Service and other stakeholders.

Meanwhile, the agency said a 31-year-old United States returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, was arrested on August 19 in Ikate, Lekki, Lagos, while allegedly attempting to take delivery of 3.350kg of Loud, a potent 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 August 25, leading to the recovery of 237g of Colorado cannabis, 316g of cocaine and 10g 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 728kg of skunk allegedly recovered from their truck marked KRE 120 XB.

Two other suspects, Uche Joseph, 35, and Godwin Umeh, 21, were also arrested at Aponmu Forest on 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 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 drug traffickers were becoming increasingly desperate and adopting unconventional methods to move illicit consignments.

“Drug traffickers are desperate to explore every means, including concealment in everyday household items like soap, to move their illicit consignments,” he said.

He therefore directed NDLEA personnel to remain vigilant and sustain the momentum against drug trafficking nationwide.