Entrepreneur passes large quantity of cocaine packets, 45 in total, as anti-narcotics agency confiscates Captagon pills in Kwara state.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced the interception of a consignment of Captagon, a highly addictive amphetamine substance, in Kwara state, barely five years after the first seizure of the drug was recorded in Africa at the Apapa seaport in Lagos.

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According to the agency, Captagon 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, with its production and sale controlled by militias and large criminal groups linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

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The latest seizure of Captagon was made on Tuesday, 21st April 2026, when NDLEA operatives on patrol along Bode Saadu road, Kwara state, intercepted a trailer conveying passengers, and 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 intercepted a trailer marked RMY-70XA on Friday, 24th April, and 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.

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A 24-year-old suspect, Aminu Isah, has been taken into custody in connection with the seizure, while NDLEA operatives in Oyo state on Tuesday, 21st April, intercepted a commercial bus with registration number MNA 963 ZY at Akinyele along the Ibadan/Oyo expressway, and a 33-year-old passenger, Eze Prince Emeka, was found to have ingested an illicit drug.

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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 pellets of cocaine with a total weight of 1.043 kilograms in three excretions, and further investigation reveals that he planned to travel 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, and two suspects, Osagie Igbinibo, 43, and Omijie Malik, 44, were apprehended in connection with the seizure of consignments bound for Onitsha, Anambra State.

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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, while 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.

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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, and in Cross River state, 20,000 kilograms of the same psychoactive substance were destroyed on eight hectares of farmland in Uyanga community, Akamkpa LGA, on Saturday, 25th April.

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NDLEA officers, supported by soldiers, raided a farmland in the Uyanga community and recovered 170kg of processed cannabis, and Three Hundred and Ninety-Four 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.

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The suspect and exhibit are to be transferred to the relevant security Agency for further investigation, and the NDLEA has continued its War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitization activities in schools, worship centres, work places, and communities, among others, in the past week, including WADA enlightenment lectures for students and staff of various schools.

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Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended the officers and men of Kwara, Oyo, Edo, Cross River, Bauchi, Ekiti, Niger, and Lagos Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, noting their drug supply reduction efforts balanced with WADA sensitization activities.

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Marwa described the seizure of 10,000 pills of Captagon in Kwara State as a major blow to drug syndicates attempting to revive a pipeline that has been largely dormant since the landmark seizure at the Apapa Seaport in Lagos five years ago, and a wake-up call, noting that Captagon remains a target for traffickers looking to fuel insecurity.

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According to Marwa, the NDLEA is not just seizing pills, but disrupting the fuel that powers violence in communities, and the operatives remain on high alert across all frontiers to ensure this illicit trade finds no foothold, as he charged them to maintain the current tempo.