Barely five years after the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) recorded the first seizure of the deadly terror drug, Captagon, in Africa at the Apapa seaport in Lagos, operatives of the Agency have again intercepted a consignment of the amphetamine substance in Kwara state.
SolaceBase reports that Captagon, a tiny, highly addictive pill, widely available across the Middle East, produces a euphoric intensity in users, allowing them to stay awake for days, making them fearless, and predisposing them to reckless action that puts the lives of people around them in jeopardy.
Its production and sale are controlled by militias and large criminal groups linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as a means of generating funds for weapons and combatants, and for use as a stimulant to keep them fighting.
A statement issued by Femi Babafemi, NDLEA Director, Media & Advocacy, on Sunday in Abuja, said the latest seizure of captagon, which street value costs as much as $25 a pill, was made on Tuesday, 21st April 2026, when NDLEA operatives on patrol along Bode Saadu road, Kwara State, intercepted a trailer conveying passengers. A search conducted on one of the passengers, 33-year-old Nasiru Mu’azu, led to the recovery of 10 packs of captagon consisting of 10,000 pills and nine packets of Tapentadol 250mg.
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In another interdiction operation at the Bode Saadu patrol point, NDLEA officers on Friday, 24th April, intercepted a trailer marked RMY-70XA. A search of the truck led to the recovery of 155,900 capsules of tramadol; 6,000 ampoules of tramadol injection; 3,000 tablets of Co-Codamol and 9,000 tablets of Bromazepam, concealed in a false compartment constructed under the trailer. A 24-year-old suspect, Aminu Isah, has been taken into custody in connection with the seizure.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Oyo state on Tuesday, 21st April intercepted a commercial bus with registration number MNA 963 ZY, at Akinyele along Ibadan/Oyo expressway, while en route Sokoto. A 33-year-old passenger, Eze Prince Emeka, was brought down from the vehicle and taken for a body scan, the results of which confirmed the ingestion of illicit drug.
The suspect, who claims to be a businessman in Sokoto, was subsequently placed under close excretion observation during which he excreted a total of forty-five (45) pellets of cocaine with a total weight of 1.043 kilograms in three excretions. The decision to travel by road to Sokoto with the illicit drug in his stomach was to evade detection by NDLEA at the airport while further investigation reveals that upon arrival in Sokoto, the suspect was to excrete the pellets, rest for a few days, and subsequently re-ingest the substances to continue the journey through the trans-Saharan routes, with Algeria as a transit point and possible final destination in Europe.
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In Edo state, NDLEA officers on patrol along Benin/Lagos expressway on Saturday, 25th April intercepted a truck marked NLC 146 FC conveying 1, 196,000 pills of pharmaceutical opioids, among others. Two suspects: Osagie Igbinibo, 43, and Omijie Malik, 44, were apprehended in connection with the seizure of the consignments heading to Onitsha, Anambra state.
While a suspect, Rasheed Ibuowo, 40, was arrested at Mile 2 expressway in Lagos on Saturday, 25th April, conveying 810 kilograms of Arizona, a strain of cannabis, another suspect, Muktar Bello, 35, was nabbed by NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, 22nd April at Misau road, Azare/Katagun LGA, Bauchi state, with 288 blocks of skunk weighing 154.5kg.
In Ekiti state, a total of 466.8 kilograms of skunk were recovered from the house of a suspect, Layit John Matthew, 56, at Ilaro street, Isinbode-Ekiti, from where he planned to transport them to Yola, Adamawa State, while 20,000 kilograms of the same psychoactive substance were destroyed on eight hectares of farmland in Uyanga community, Akamkpa LGA, Cross River state, on Saturday, 25th April, when NDLEA Officers, supported by soldiers, raided the community and recovered 170kg of processed cannabis.
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Three Hundred and Ninety-Four (394) pieces of IED components were seized from a suspect, Mohammed Aliyu, 26, by NDLEA operatives on patrol along Kontagora/Zuru road, Niger state, on Wednesday, 22nd April. He was conveying the IED materials in a red Toyota car with registration number KNT 617 AE to Shadadi, Mariga LGA. The suspect and exhibit are to be transferred to the relevant security Agency for further investigation.
