Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk is certain Mohamed Salah will get the send-off his glittering career deserves, even if injury prevents the Egyptian from playing again for the Reds.

Salah, who will leave Anfield after nine years at the end of the season, was forced off with a suspected hamstring injury in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Crystal Palace.

Liverpool are awaiting the results of a scan to determine the extent of the problem, but with just four games of the campaign remaining, the 33-year-old may not feature again this season.

“If you get injured at this stage of the season, especially in the situation he is in, there is only two more home games left for him. It’s a combination of feelings that go through your mind,” said Van Dijk.

“He will get the send-off regardless. I don’t think that is the thing at this point, we shouldn’t think too far ahead.

“Knowing Mo, he is a quick healer and with the right people around him, let’s see.”

Salah has scored 257 goals in 440 appearances since his arrival in 2017, behind only Ian Rush and Roger Hunt in Liverpool’s list of leading goalscorers.

The winger has been integral to the club’s rise back to the top of English and European football, winning the Champions League and two Premier League titles among a clutch of trophies.

Salah also scooped the players’ player of the year award a record three times and was the Premier League’s top scorer on four occasions.

AFP

Journalists have been barred from covering the trial of six alleged coup plotters accused of making moves to oust President Bola Tinubu.

In a case that was not declared a secret trial, concerns have been raised as to its transparency in handling the matter.

Judiciary correspondents were on Monday left uncertain about developments in the case, particularly as the suspects’ bail application is pending before the court.

Earlier, the six accused suspects were brought into the courtroom under heightened security presence.

The Federal Government had last Wednesday arraigned the suspects before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, led the prosecution.

All but a former Minister of Petroleum, Timiprye Sylva, who is said to be at large, were present in court.

The defendants, including Major General Ibrahim Gana (retd), who was in a wheelchair; retired naval captain Erasmus Victor, Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim, Zekeri Umoru, Bukar Goni, and Abdulkadir Sani, pleaded not guilty to the 13-count charge when it was read in their hearing.

Following their plea of not guilty, Fagbemi asked that they be remanded in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) and for an expeditious trial.

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, therefore, ordered an accelerated trial and that the defendants be placed in the custody of the DSS.

The case was adjourned to April 27 for trial and an accelerated hearing.

The government filed a 13-count charge against the suspects last Tuesday before the court against the suspects.

Also listed in the charge, but said to be at large, is Sylva.

The charge, filed by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and signed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), accused the defendants of offences ranging from alleged treason and terrorism to failure to disclose security intelligence and money laundering linked to terrorism financing.

The prosecution alleged that the defendants conspired in 2025 “to levy war against the state to overpower the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” an offence punishable under Section 37(2) of the Criminal Code.

The Federal Government further alleged that the defendants had prior knowledge of a planned treasonable act involving one Colonel Mohammed Alhassan Ma’aji and others, but failed to alert authorities.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency says its operatives have intercepted a consignment of the stimulant drug captagon in Kwara State, alongside other seizures recorded in separate operations across the country.

The agency said this comes barely five years after it recorded the first seizure of captagon in Africa at the Apapa Port in Lagos.

The drug is believed to be a highly addictive amphetamine-type stimulant widely abused in parts of the Middle East.

According to the NDLEA, the drug produces intense euphoria, suppresses fatigue, and can keep users awake for days while reducing fear and increasing reckless behaviour.

The agency also linked its “production and sale to militias and large criminal groups linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria”, which it said use it as a “means of generating funds for weapons and combatants and for use as a stimulant to keep them fighting.”

The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this in a statement made available to The column.ng on Sunday, said, “The latest seizure of captagon, whose 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 a separate operation at the same Bode Saadu patrol point on Friday, 24 April, NDLEA officers intercepted a trailer marked RMY-70XA.

“A search of the truck led to the recovery of 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.

“A 24-year-old suspect, Aminu Isah, has been taken into custody in connection with the seizure,” the statement added.

In Oyo State on 21 April, operatives intercepted a commercial bus with registration number MNA 963 ZY at Akinyele along the Ibadan–Oyo Expressway while en route to Sokoto.

“A 33-year-old passenger, Eze Prince Emeka, was brought down from the vehicle and taken for a body scan, which confirmed ingestion of illicit drugs.

“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,” Babafemi said.

He added, “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 operatives on patrol along the Benin–Lagos Expressway on Saturday, 25 April, intercepted a truck marked NLC 146 FC conveying 1,196,000 pills of pharmaceutical opioids.

Two suspects, Osagie Igbinibo, 43, and Omijie Malik, 44, were arrested in connection with the seizure of the consignment, which was reportedly heading to Onitsha, Anambra State.

In Lagos, a suspect, Rasheed Ibuowo, 40, was arrested at Mile 2 Expressway on Saturday, 25 April, while conveying 810 kilograms of Arizona, a strain of cannabis.

In Bauchi State, another suspect, Muktar Bello, 35, was arrested on Wednesday, 22 April, along Misau Road, Azare/Katagum LGA, with 288 blocks of skunk weighing 154.5 kilograms.

NDLEA operatives in Ekiti State recovered 466.8 kilograms of skunk from the house of a suspect, Layit John Matthew, 56, at Ilaro Street, Isinbode-Ekiti. The agency said the drugs were intended for transportation to Yola, Adamawa State.

In Cross River State, about 20,000 kilograms of cannabis were destroyed on eight hectares of farmland in the Uyanga community, Akamkpa LGA, on Saturday, 25 April. The operation, supported by soldiers, also led to the recovery of 170 kilograms of processed cannabis.

In Niger State, 394 pieces of improvised explosive device components were seized from a suspect, Mohammed Aliyu, 26, along the Kontagora–Zuru Road.

He was reportedly transporting the materials in a Toyota vehicle with registration number KNT 617 AE to Shadadi, Mariga LGA. The suspect and exhibits are to be transferred to the relevant security agency for further investigation.

The agency also said its commands across the country continued sensitisation activities under its War Against Drug Abuse campaign in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities during the week.

These included enlightenment lectures at Mallam Salisu Islamic School, Paiko, Niger State; Madarasatul Abdulrahman Bin Auf Litahafizul Quran, Kano; Sani Zango Daura Model Primary School, Katsina; and a community engagement in Badagry, Lagos State.

The Zonal Commander, Zone 4 Command, ACGN Bridget Viashiama, also led a WADA advocacy visit to the Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule.

The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended officers of the Kwara, Oyo, Edo, Cross River, Bauchi, Ekiti, Niger and Lagos Commands for their operations and urged them to sustain the momentum in both enforcement and sensitisation activities.

He described the seizure of 10,000 Captagon pills in Kwara as a significant blow to drug syndicates attempting to revive a trafficking route that had been largely inactive since the Apapa Port seizure five years ago.

Marwa said the interception was a warning against attempts to expand Captagon trafficking networks, adding that the drug is often linked to insecurity due to its stimulant effects.

“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 said.