ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has intercepted a large consignment of Captagon, a dangerous amphetamine linked to insurgency and organised crime, in Kwara State, in what authorities describe as a major breakthrough in ongoing anti-drug operations.
The agency said the seizure followed a routine patrol along Bode Saadu Road on April 21, 2026, where operatives stopped a passenger vehicle and discovered 10,000 pills of the substance on a 33-year-old suspect, Nasiru Mu’azu. Officers also recovered nine packets of Tapentadol, a powerful opioid, during the operation.
Captagon, widely abused in parts of the Middle East, is notorious for inducing extreme alertness, suppressing fear and heightening aggression traits that have made it attractive to militant groups and criminal syndicates. Its emergence in Nigeria has raised fresh security concerns among enforcement authorities.
In a related operation at the same checkpoint on April 24, NDLEA operatives intercepted a trailer fitted with a hidden compartment containing a large stockpile of pharmaceuticals.
The haul included 155,900 capsules of tramadol, 6,000 ampoules of tramadol injections, 3,000 tablets of co-codamol and 9,000 tablets of bromazepam. A 24-year-old suspect, Aminu Isah, was arrested in connection with the seizure.
The agency’s crackdown extended beyond Kwara. In Oyo State, officers stopped a commercial bus along the Ibadan-Oyo expressway and arrested a passenger, Eze Prince Emeka, who had ingested illicit drugs. Under observation, he excreted 45 pellets of cocaine weighing over one kilogram. Investigators said the suspect planned to smuggle the drugs to Europe via trans-Saharan routes, using Algeria as a transit point.
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Further operations across the country revealed the scale of the trafficking network. In Edo State, two suspects were arrested with more than 1.1 million pills of pharmaceutical opioids concealed in a truck heading to Onitsha. In Lagos, operatives recovered 810 kilograms of a cannabis strain known as “Arizona,” while in Bauchi State, another suspect was caught with 154.5 kilograms of skunk.
In Ekiti State, NDLEA operatives raided a residence and seized 466.8 kilograms of skunk, while in Cross River State, a joint operation with the military destroyed 20,000 kilograms of cannabis cultivated across eight hectares of farmland.
In a separate development in Niger State, officers intercepted a suspect transporting 394 components used in the fabrication of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The suspect and recovered materials were handed over to relevant security agencies for further investigation.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Mohamed Buba Marwa, commended officers for the coordinated operations, describing the Captagon seizure as a significant disruption of attempts to re-establish a dangerous drug supply chain into Nigeria.
“We are not just seizing pills; we are disrupting the fuel that powers violence in our communities,” Marwa said, stressing that operatives remain on high alert to prevent the illicit trade from gaining ground.
He added that sustaining pressure on drug supply chains while intensifying public sensitisation remains critical to winning the fight against drug abuse and trafficking nationwide.