A suspect, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, brought in 47,200 captagon pills and “millions of opioids” concealed in soap from Ghana, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) spokesman Femi Babafemi said in a statement.

“After his arrest, Akinbile claimed he was meant to deliver the consignment in the North,” Babafemi said, putting the street value of the drugs at 1.5 billion naira (about $1.1 million).

Captagon is nicknamed the “jihadi drug” because of its reported use in funding extremist activities in conflict zones.

It became particularly widespread in Syria, where it grew into a major illicit export under former president Bashar al-Assad, according to the United Nations.

Nigeria has been battling a jihadist insurgency in the northeast since 2009, as well as violence by non-ideological “bandit” gangs, who kidnap for ransom in the northwest and northcentral regions.

In September 2021, the NDLEA seized 451,807 tablets of captagon at a port in Lagos.

It seized another 10,000 pills in April in northcentral Kwara State, where suspected jihadists killed at least 165 people and kidnapped scores in a village attack in February.

Babafemi told AFP in an earlier interview that “terrorists and bandits” use drugs “so they can carry out their nefarious activities”.

tba/phz