NDLEA Raids Nigeria’s Largest Meth Lab, Arrests 3 Mexicans as N480Bn Drugs Syndicate Crumbles

Femi Ashekun/

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, says it has dismantled what officials described as the largest clandestine methamphetamine laboratory ever uncovered in the country, hidden deep inside a forest in Ogun State.

Three Mexican nationals and several Nigerian suspects arrested during coordinated raids.

The operation, carried out by elite operatives of the agency’s Special Operations Unit, led to the recovery of more than 2.4 tonnes of methamphetamine and precursor chemicals valued at over $362 million, estimated at more than N480 billion in the international illicit drug market.

According to NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, the sprawling illicit drug facility was concealed inside the Abidagba forest in Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State and allegedly operated by a transnational cartel involving Nigerian traffickers and Mexican methamphetamine “cooks”.

Babafemi disclosed that the raids followed months of intelligence gathering and surveillance before operatives simultaneously stormed locations in Ogun and Lagos states on May 16.

He said the forest laboratory was linked to what authorities identified as the “Anochili Innocent Drug Trafficking Organisation”, while another tactical team arrested the alleged kingpin, identified as Anochili Innocent, during a separate operation in the Lakowe area of Lekki, Lagos.

Among those arrested at the forest hideout were three Mexican nationals allegedly brought into Nigeria specifically to manufacture methamphetamine on an industrial scale.

The suspects were identified as Martinez Felix Nemecto, Jesus López Valles and Torrero Juan Carlos.

NDLEA also named four Nigerian suspects apprehended at the clandestine laboratory as Nwankwo Sunday Christian, Igwe Abuchi Remijus, Ifeanyichukwu Chibuike Joshua and Egwuonwu Uchenna Victor.

Another suspect, Kingsley Orike Omonughwa, was later arrested at a property linked to the alleged cartel leader in Lekki.

Operatives also raided the residence of another suspected syndicate member, Emeka Nwobum, believed to have served as a stash house for the cartel.

The agency said a total of 10 suspects are now in custody, including the alleged mastermind, the three Mexicans and six Nigerian collaborators.

Babafemi described the laboratory as a “highly dangerous” industrial scale operation capable of producing lethal narcotics in massive quantities, warning that the syndicate posed a serious threat to national security and public health.

“This network did not just traffic drugs, they were actively manufacturing industrial scale quantities of highly lethal illicit substances right on our soil,” he said.

NDLEA said the operation yielded 2,419.48 kilograms of finished and liquid methamphetamine, toxic precursor chemicals and industrial solvents used in the production process.

Two vehicles allegedly connected to the cartel, a Toyota Tacoma and a Toyota Highlander, were also seized during the raids.

NDLEA Chairman, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), described the operation as a major breakthrough against organised drug trafficking networks seeking to turn Nigeria into a manufacturing hub for synthetic narcotics.