The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted a fresh consignment of Captagon, a potent stimulant widely associated with militant groups in the Middle East, in Kwara State, in what the agency described as a significant breakthrough signalling renewed attempts by criminal networks to revive dormant trafficking routes into Nigeria, as part of a sweeping nationwide enforcement campaign that simultaneously yielded major drug seizures and the recovery of improvised explosive device components.
Agency spokesman Femi Babafemi disclosed that operatives on patrol along Bode Saadu Road in Kwara State intercepted 33-year-old Nasiru Mu’azu, recovering 10,000 pills of Captagon and nine packets of Tapentadol 250mg from the passenger. The seizure marked a renewed trafficking attempt nearly five years after Captagon’s first recorded interception in Nigeria at Apapa seaport in Lagos.
Captagon, frequently described as a terror drug, is known for inducing prolonged wakefulness, heightened aggression, and significantly reduced fear responses, properties that have made it a substance reportedly exploited by extremist organisations including the Islamic State to sustain combat operations. Each pill carries a street value of approximately $25, making the consignment seized in Kwara worth an estimated $250,000 on the illicit market.
At the same patrol point, NDLEA officers separately intercepted a trailer in which a false compartment concealed 155,900 tramadol capsules, 6,000 tramadol injection ampoules, 3,000 Co-Codamol tablets, and 9,000 Bromazepam tablets. A 24-year-old suspect, Aminu Isah, was taken into custody in connection with the seizure.
In Oyo State, operatives apprehended 33-year-old businessman Eze Emeka along the Ibadan to Oyo expressway after a body scan confirmed he had ingested illicit substances. Under medical observation, he excreted 45 wraps of cocaine weighing over one kilogramme, with investigations revealing he had planned to smuggle the drugs via trans-Saharan routes through Algeria into Europe.
Further operations across multiple states produced significant results. In Edo State, officers intercepted a truck carrying over 1.1 million opioid pills bound for Onitsha, arresting two suspects. In Lagos, a suspect was intercepted with 810 kilogrammes of potent cannabis. In Bauchi, a separate arrest yielded more than 150 kilogrammes of cannabis. In Ekiti, nearly 470 kilogrammes of cannabis were recovered from a residential building. In Cross River State, a major raid resulted in the destruction of 20,000 kilogrammes of cannabis cultivated across eight hectares of farmland.
In a development highlighting the dangerous intersection of drug trafficking and security threats, NDLEA operatives in Niger State seized 394 components used in manufacturing improvised explosive devices from a suspect, with the materials immediately handed over to relevant security agencies for further investigation and prosecution.
NDLEA Chairman Buba Marwa described the Captagon seizure as a wake-up call and a clear indication that criminal networks were actively working to establish new supply lines for the dangerous substance within Nigeria. “We are not just seizing drugs; we are dismantling the enablers of violence and insecurity,” he said, assuring Nigerians that the agency would remain vigilant in preventing the spread of substances capable of fuelling extremism and criminal violence.
