OGUN, Nigeria – The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency says it has dismantled the largest clandestine methamphetamine laboratory ever uncovered in Nigeria, arresting 10 suspects, including three Mexican nationals, during coordinated raids in Ogun State and Lagos State.
NDLEA Chairman Buba Marwa announces the breakthrough in Abuja on Wednesday, describing the operation as a major blow against transnational drug trafficking networks operating in West Africa.
According to Marwa, the methamphetamine factory was hidden inside the Abidagba forest in Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State and jointly operated by the Anochili Innocent Drug Trafficking Organisation alongside Mexican collaborators.
“Through a clinical, simultaneous operation executed by the elite operatives of our Special Operations Unit, we have successfully dismantled a sophisticated transnational methamphetamine production syndicate,” Marwa says.
Authorities identify the arrested Mexican suspects as Martinez Felix Nemecto, Jesus López Valles and Torrero Juan Carlos.
The alleged cartel kingpin, Anochili Innocent, was arrested separately at his Lekki residence, where operatives reportedly recovered the passports and mobile phones of the foreign suspects.
The NDLEA says operatives seized 2,419.48 kilograms of methamphetamine and precursor chemicals worth more than N480 billion in the international market.
Marwa warns that international drug syndicates are increasingly recruiting foreign specialists to establish illegal production factories inside remote Nigerian communities.
“This network did not just traffic drugs; they were actively manufacturing industrial-scale quantities of highly lethal illicit substances right on our soil,” he says.
The agency urges residents to remain vigilant and report suspicious activities linked to organised crime and drug trafficking.
