Authority in Nigeria, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA for the second time in five years has intercepted and seized a deadly large consignment of illicit drug known as Captagon or chemical courage that gives users apparent super power to fight and stay longer for days or more without food, the illicit drug which also help users conquer the power of fear was first seized in 2020 at Apapa seaport in Lagos by the Nigeria authority, and in late April 2026, operatives of the Agency again intercepted a consignment of the amphetamine substance in Kwara state, the seizure may have confirmed that Captagon, specifically known for inducing prolonged wakefulness and reduced fear, is now being actively smuggled toward conflict zones in the Northeastern Nigeria that has recorded thousands of deaths since more than a decade, this, according to some public confessions that mentioned Captagon by name in the Lake Chad region, there is extensive evidence from captured fighters and survivors regarding the use of “white pills” and “combat drugs” to maintain energy and endure starvation, inline with this, a confessions of captured Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP fighters have detailed their reliance on drugs to sustain them in the bush, accordingly, a 21-year-old former Boko Haram fighter, Ali Modu testified about the group’s systematic use of narcotics to manipulate and control its members, Ali Modu who escaped in 2021 after years of being allegedly forced to fight, provided a rare look into the internal mechanics of “the push”—the psychological and chemical preparation required for combat, saying, drugs were mandatory before operations; “they told us when you take it you will be less afraid—you will be strong and courageous”, adding that without these pills, fighters felt too weak or fearful to engage in battle, that aside, some captured insurgents have described a cycle where drugs were once “plentiful” but became scarce as military pressure grew, and during these times, they used the drugs specifically to numb the pain of hunger when food supplies were cut off for months, as supplies dwindled, high-potency drugs were reserved strictly for commanders and those actively heading into raids to ensure they didn’t retreat, survivor accounts; both former captives and civilian frequently mentioned the “zombie-like” or “robotic” state of the insurgents or the “Strange Strength”, which escaped women have reported that fighters would go for days without sleeping or eating proper meals, appearing hyper-alert and aggressive, specifically, a reported drugged captive, a 16-year-old girl who escaped Boko Haram testified that the Islamic militants would force-drug girls when they started crying or showed signs of trauma to “knock them out” or make them compliant, the 16-year-old girl, Maryamu Joseph held captive for nine years in a Boko Haram camp within the Sambisa Forest before escaping in July 2023 shared with the aid agency, Aid to the Church in  detailed the horrific conditions and psychological control methods used by the militants, stating, whenever girls cried or showed signs of trauma, militants would force-drug them to “knock them out” or ensure they were compliant, while Captagon before was the “terror drug” of the Middle East, notably used by Islamic State In Iraq and Syria, ISIS and ousted President Bashar al-Assad of Syria that were mass producing and supplying captagon drugs to several parts of the world especially countries in the Middle East and Africa as source of revenue generation and manipulating their own fighters to become more dangerous in attacking and showing no mercy to their enemies, but some security intelligence reports indicated that the shipping of Captagon from Syria into West Africa was primarily an industrial-scale operation run by the Assad regime, using sophisticated maritime “re-routing” strategies to bypass international detection, while ISIS aided the smuggling and the drug’s use and small-scale trafficking to fund its fighters, investigations have found that the group lacked the state-controlled ports and infrastructure required for the massive shipments recently discovered in Africa, which, suggests, the Assad regime, specifically the 4th Armoured Division, used a complex maritime relay system, thus, massive shipments originated from the Syrian state-controlled ports of Latakia and Tartous and the transit Ships often stopped at ports in Libya, Egypt, or Southern Europe like Italy’s Port of Salerno to change cargo papers or cleanse the shipment origin, with countries like Nigeria and Morocco identified as transit points where Captagon is offloaded before being smuggled back toward the Gulf or distributed locally, it would be recalled that the drug was originally and legally invented in 1961 by the German pharmaceutical company, Degussa AG as a legal treatment for conditions like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD which is a childhood brain’s neurodevelopmental condition that typically involves; Inattention; Difficulty staying focused or organised, Hyperactivity; Excessive movement or restlessness, Impulsivity; Acting without thinking about the consequences, and in addition to ADHD treatment, the captagon drug was originally also meant to cure narcolepsy, and depression and the drug originally acted as a milder stimulant alternative to pure amphetamines, providing the benefits of focus and alertness with fewer cardiovascular side effects, but, however, due to its high potential for addiction and abuse, the World Health Organization, WHO listed it as a controlled substance in 1986, which led most countries and the original manufacturers to stop its legal production and distribution.

According to Al-jazeera news report in late  2024, “Four days since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, opposition fighters who have taken control of Damascus have uncovered large stashes of Captagon, a narcotic substance that has long been mass-produced in the country – so much so that it became almost synonymous with the nation’s removed leadership.

Ahmed al-Sharaa (also referred to as al-Julani), the top commander of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the most powerful group among the rebels who have overthrown al-Assad, has in recent days accused the former regime of turning Syria into “the world’s leading source of Captagon”. He has promised to crack down on Captagon manufacture and trade.

An addictive, amphetamine-type stimulant, Captagon has been primarily produced in Syria in recent years and smuggled to the Gulf states. That turned the narcotic substance into a bargaining chip for al-Assad in talks that led to the Arab League reinstating Syria’s membership last year, as nations looked to curb the illicit drug trade.

At a May 1, 2023 meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Amman, Damascus agreed to cooperate with Jordan and Iraq to identify sources of drug production and smuggling, according to a statement from Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A week later, a high-profile Syrian drug smuggler and his family were killed in an air raid, attributed to Jordan, in southern Syria.

Captagon was the brand name of a psychoactive medicine produced in the 1960s by the German company Degussa Pharma Gruppe. It was mainly prescribed as a treatment for attention deficit disorder, narcolepsy and as a central nervous system stimulant. Captagon tablets contained fenetylline, a synthetic drug of the phenethylamine family to which amphetamine also belongs.

In 1986, fenetylline was included in Schedule II of the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971, and most countries discontinued the use of Captagon. The International Narcotics Control Board said in 2011 that no country had produced fenetylline since 2009.

But production didn’t really stop, did it?
As official production ceased, some of the remaining stocks were smuggled out of Eastern Europe, in particular Bulgaria, to the Middle East.

Eventually, new counterfeit tablets labelled Captagon were produced in the 1990s to early 2000s in Bulgaria, according to a 2018 report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction. The drugs were then smuggled out of the country by Balkan and Turkish criminal networks to the Arabian Peninsula.

Strict crackdowns on production by Turkish and Bulgarian authorities, which included the closure of 18 mostly large-scale laboratories involved in amphetamine synthesis, resulted in a drastic reduction in trade from the Balkans.

In 2011, after a brutal government crackdown on anti-Assad protesters, Syria descended into civil war. Internationally isolated and racked by fighting, the country was plunged into an economic crisis.

Although Damascus denied any involvement in the trade, observers say production and smuggling of the drug brought in billions of dollars for al-Assad, his associates and allies as they looked for an economic lifeline.

According to a New Lines Institute report, the now-ejected Syrian government used “local alliance structures with other armed groups such as Hezbollah for technical and logistical support in Captagon production and trafficking”.

Experts say most of global Captagon production is now in Syria, with the wealthy Gulf states as the primary destination”, Al-Jazeera report ends in quotes.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA in a news release signed and made available by its spokesperson, Femi Babafemi on Sunday April 26, 2026 stated in quotes that; “Barely five years after the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) recorded the first seizure of the deadly terror drug, Captagon, in Africa at the Apapa seaport in Lagos, operatives of the Agency have again intercepted a consignment of the amphetamine substance in Kwara state.

Captagon, a tiny, highly addictive pill, widely available across the Middle East, produces a euphoric intensity in users, allowing them to stay awake for days, making them fearless, and predisposes 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.

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.

In another interdiction operation at the Bode Saadu patrol point, NDLEA officers on Friday 24th April intercepted a trailęr marked RMY-70XA. A search of the truck led to the recovery of 155,900 capsules of tramadol; 6,000 ampuoles of tramadol injection; 3,000 tablets of Co- Codamol and 9,000 tablets of Bromazepam, concealed in a false compartment constructed under the trailer. A 24-year-old suspect Aminu Isah has been taken into custody in connection with the seizure.

Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in Oyo state on Tuesday 21 April intercepted a commercial bus with registration number MNA 963 ZY, at Akinyele along Ibadan/Oyo expressway, while en route Sokoto. A 33-year-old passenger Eze Prince Emeka was brought down from the vehicle and taken for body scan, which result confirmed ingestion of illicit drug. 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 (45) pellets of cocaine with a total weight of 1.043 kilograms in three excretions. The decision to travel by road to Sokoto with the illicit drug in his stomach was to evade detection by NDLEA at the airport while further investigation reveals that upon arrival in Sokoto, the suspect was to excrete the pellets, rest for a few days, and subsequently re-ingest the substances to continue the journey through the trans-Saharan routes, with Algeria as a transit point and possible final destination in Europe.

In Edo state, NDLEA officers on patrol along Benin/Lagos expressway on Saturday 25h April intercepted a truck marked NLC 146 FC conveying 1,196,000 pills of pharmaceutical opioids, among others. Two suspects: Osagie lgbinibo, 43, and Omijie Malik, 44, were apprehended in connection with the seizure of the consignments heading to Onitsha, Anambra state. While a suspect Rasheed Ibuowo, 40, was arrested at Mile 2 expressway in Lagos on Saturday 25th Aprik conveying 810 kilograms of Arizona, a strain of cannabis, another suspect Muktar Bello, 35, was nabbed by NDLEA operatives on Wednesday 22nd April at Misau road, Azare/Katagun Local government area, Bauçhi state with 288 blocks of skunk weighing 154.5kg.

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, sinbode-Ekiti, from where he planned to transport them to Yola, Adamawa state while 20,000 kilograms of the same psychoactive substance were destroyed on eight hectares of farmland in Uyanga community, Akamkpa Local government area, Cross River state on Saturday 25th April when NDLEA officers supported by soldiers raided the community and recovered 170kg of processed cannabis.

Three Hundred and Ninety-Four (394) 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. He was conveying the IED materials in a red Toyota car with registration number KNT 617 AE to Shadadi, Mariga Local government area. The suspect and exhibit are to be transferred to the relevant security Agency for further investigation.

With the same zeal, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, Ssensitization activities in schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week. These include: WADA enlightenment lecture for students and staff of Mallam Salisu Islamic School, Paiko, Niger state; Madarasatul Abdulrahman Bin Auf Litahafizul Quran, Durusul Islamiyah Badawa, Nasarawa Local government area, Kano; Sani Zango Daura Model Primary School, Zango, Katsina; and members of community development associations, Badagry Local government area Lagos while the Zonal Commander, Zone 4 Command of NDLEA, ACGN Bridget Viashiama led other senior officers of the Zone on a WADA advocacy visit to Nasarawa state governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, among others.

While commending the officers and men of Kwara, Oyo, Edo, Cross River, Bauchi, Ekiti, Niger and Lagos Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier Genera Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retired) noted their drug supply reduction efforts balanced with WADA sensitization activities while he charged them and their compatriots across the country to maintain the current tempo.

He commended the tactical precision of NDLEA operatives following the interception of 10,000 pills of Captagon in Kwara State, noting that the bust is 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. Marwa described the seizure as a wake-up call, noting that Captagon, a potent amphetamine often linked to insurgent groups for its ability to inhibit fear and fatigue, remains a target for traffickers looking to fuel insecurity. “We are not just seizing pills; we are disrupting the fuel that powers violence in our communities, Our operatives remain on high alert across all frontiers to ensure this illicit trade finds no foothold”, he stated.