Nigeria's anti-narcotics agency announced Sunday that it had seized more than 47,000 Captagon tablets destined for the north of the country, a region plagued by jihadist violence for more than 17 years.

A suspect, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, brought in from Ghana some 47,200 pills of Captagon - a powerful stimulant drug based on synthetic amphetamines - as well as "millions of opioids" hidden in soap, said National Drug Law Enforcement Administration (NDLEA) spokesman Femi Babafemi in a statement.

"After his arrest, Akinbile claimed that he was supposed to deliver the shipment to the north" of the country, he said, estimating the market value of the intercepted drugs at 1.5 billion naira (966,000 euros).

Captagon, sometimes called "the jihad drug" because of its alleged use to finance extremist activities in conflict zones, became Syria's main export during the civil war in that country (2011-2024).

The profits from its trafficking constituted a key source of funding for the government of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (2000-2024).

Nigeria has been facing a jihadist insurgency in the northeast since 2009, as well as violence in the northwest and center by armed gangs nicknamed "bandits", without ideological affiliation, who loot villages, kidnap for ransom and "tax" farmers and miners.

In September 2021, the NDLEA seized 451,807 Captagon tablets in a port in Lagos (northwest), the economic capital.

It had intercepted another 10,000 in April in Kwara State (central), where suspected jihadists had killed at least 165 people and abducted an undetermined number in February during an attack on a village.

Mr. Babafemi had explained to AFP in a previous interview that "terrorists and bandits" use drugs "in order to carry out their nefarious activities".