NDLEA Intercepts N6.2bn Drugs Hidden In Ghana Soap, Opioids At Lagos Airport

NDLEA seizes Captagon and millions of opioid tablets worth over ₦6.2 billion in separate Lagos airport operations.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted consignments of illicit drugs worth more than ₦6.2 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, including Captagon concealed inside locally made bathing soap and millions of opioid tablets.

The agency said 47,200 pills of Captagon, an illicit amphetamine commonly referred to as the “Jihadi drug,” were recovered from a 49-year-old suspected cross-border drug trafficker who arrived in Lagos from Accra, Ghana.

The suspect, identified as Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, was arrested on August 22, 2026, after NDLEA operatives searched a carton containing local bathing soap, popularly known as “Ghana Soap.”

The search revealed that the Captagon pills had been concealed inside blocks of the soap. The consignment was valued at more than ₦1.5 billion.

According to the agency, Aikins told investigators that he was expected to deliver the drugs to a destination in northern Nigeria.

In a separate operation at the airport, NDLEA operatives recovered 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg from four abandoned consignments at the airport’s import shed.

The opioid consignments had a combined weight of 2,787.40 kilogrammes and an estimated street value of more than ₦4.6 billion.

Three of the consignments contained 900,000 tablets of Tramaking, weighing 815.40 kilogrammes. They arrived on RwandAir flights from Bangladesh.

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

The consignments were placed under surveillance after no importer came forward to claim them. They were subsequently retrieved and examined jointly by NDLEA operatives, the Nigeria Customs Service and other stakeholders on August 28.

The agency said the latest seizures demonstrated the increasingly sophisticated methods being used by drug trafficking organisations to move illicit substances into the country.

Captagon has previously been intercepted in Nigeria and has gained notoriety because of its reported association with illicit drug markets and armed groups in parts of the Middle East.

The NDLEA leadership commended officers involved in the operations and urged them to sustain efforts against traffickers who continue to conceal dangerous substances in ordinary household items and abandoned cargo.

The agency said investigations into the seizures were ongoing as authorities continued efforts to identify other individuals and networks connected to the consignments.