NDLEA
Bolatito Mercy
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has made two major busts that highlight the changing tactics of drug traffickers in Nigeria: a businessman who excreted 45 wraps of cocaine after swallowing them, and the interception of Captagon, a “terror drug” linked to militant groups, in Kwara State. Both seizures were announced Sunday by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi and underscore the agency’s ongoing operations across road, air, and border routes.
In Kwara, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Bode Saadu road intercepted a trailer conveying passengers on Tuesday, 21st April 2026. A search of 33-year-old Nasiru Mu’azu led to the recovery of 10 packs of Captagon totaling 10,000 pills, plus nine packets of Tapentadol 250mg. Captagon is a tiny, highly addictive amphetamine-type stimulant widely abused in the Middle East. It produces intense euphoria, keeps users awake for days, suppresses fear, and predisposes them to reckless action. The NDLEA noted that its production and sale are controlled by militias and large criminal groups linked to ISIS, who use it both as a stimulant for fighters and a funding source for weapons. Street value can reach $25 a pill.
This is only the second time Captagon has been seized in Africa, with the first recorded at Apapa seaport in Lagos five years ago. Its appearance in Kwara, intercepted on a passenger vehicle, raised security concerns because of the drug’s association with extremist organizations and its ability to induce extreme alertness and aggression. The agency said the presence of Captagon in Nigeria signals potential new trafficking routes and the need for heightened vigilance along inland corridors.
At the same Bode Saadu checkpoint on Friday, 24th April, operatives stopped another trailer marked RMY-70XA. A search uncovered a specially constructed false compartment under the trailer hiding 155,900 capsules of tramadol, 6,000 ampoules of tramadol injection, 3,000 tablets of co-codamol, and 9,000 tablets of bromazepam. A 24-year-old suspect, Aminu Isah, was arrested. The use of false compartments shows how traffickers are modifying vehicles to move large pharmaceutical shipments across state lines.
Separately, NDLEA intercepted a commercial bus on Tuesday, 21st April at Akinyele along the Ibadan/Oyo expressway en route to Sokoto. A 33-year-old passenger, Eze Prince Emeka, was taken for a body scan that confirmed ingestion of illicit drugs. Placed under observation, the suspect excreted 45 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.043 kilograms across three excretions. The businessman from Sokoto told investigators he chose the road route to evade airport detection. His plan was to excrete the pellets in Sokoto, rest, then re-ingest them for the next leg through trans-Saharan routes, with Algeria as a transit point and Europe as the possible final destination.
The two cases illustrate distinct but dangerous trends. Captagon’s interception points to Nigeria being targeted as a transit or consumer market for a drug with direct terrorism financing links. The cocaine body-packing case shows traffickers still rely on human couriers to move high-value drugs, adapting routes away from airports to highways when surveillance tightens. NDLEA said both operations reflect ongoing pressure on criminal networks using Nigeria’s roads and passenger transport systems.
NDLEA also reported other seizures in the same week: 1,196,000 pills of pharmaceutical opioids in Edo heading to Onitsha, 810kg of Arizona cannabis in Lagos, and 288 blocks of skunk weighing 154.5kg in Bauchi. The agency reiterated its commitment to disrupting supply chains for both traditional narcotics like cocaine and emerging threats like Captagon that carry security implications beyond drug abuse.
