NDLEA intercepts $250,000 terror drug in Kwara

By Damilare Adeleye

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have again intercepted a consignment of deadly terror drug known as Captagon in Kwara State.

The first seizure of such an amphetamine substance in Africa was recorded nearly five years ago when it was intercepted at the Apapa seaport in Lagos.

According to a statement released on Sunday, the NDLEA director of media and advocacy, Femi Babafemi, described Captagon as a tiny, highly addictive pill, widely available across the Middle East, and 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.

“Its production and sale are controlled by militias and large criminal groups linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as a means of generating funds for weapons and combatants, and for use as a stimulant to keep them fighting,” Babafemi explained.

He further disclosed that the latest seizure of captagon, which street value costs as much as $25 a pill, was made on Tuesday, 21st April 2026, when NDLEA operatives on patrol along Bode Saadu road, Kwara state, intercepted a trailer conveying passengers.

“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.”

The NDLEA spokesperson added that in another interdiction operation at the Bode Saadu patrol point, NDLEA officers on Friday, 24th April, intercepted a trailer marked RMY-70XA.

Upon the search of the truck, 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, were all recovered.

Babafemi confirmed that a 24-year-old suspect, Aminu Isah, had been taken into custody in connection with the seizure.