NDLEA uncovers industrial-scale meth lab in Oyo forest, arrests Mexican, four Nigerians
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives have uncovered and dismantled a fortified industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory hidden in a forest in Oyo state, arresting a Mexican national and four Nigerians allegedly linked to a transnational drug cartel.
The operation was carried out at Tapa Village in Ibarapa north LGA of the state, marking the second major clandestine methamphetamine laboratory discovered by the agency in the south-West within a month.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd), represented by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, described the facility as a sophisticated drug production centre operated by a Nigerian-Mexican syndicate.
According to Marwa, tactical operatives stormed the laboratory on June 17 after intelligence-led surveillance and arrested five suspected members of the cartel.
Those arrested include 56-year-old Mexican methamphetamine specialist, Jose Villa Ochoa, who was allegedly brought into Nigeria to provide technical expertise for large-scale drug production.
The four Nigerian suspects are Maxwell Uche Nevoh, 30; Olatunji Yusuf, 37; Bankole Akeem Owolabi, 45; and Ganiu Monsiu, 43.
Marwa said the arrest of the Mexican national highlights the growing transnational dimension of synthetic drug production in Nigeria.
“The arrest of a foreign cartel specialist on Nigerian soil underscores the transnational nature of this threat, but more importantly, it underscores our agency’s world-class intelligence capability to track, intercept and neutralise them,” he said.
Following the raid, NDLEA forensic and chemical monitoring experts conducted a detailed examination of the facility on June 18 and discovered what the agency described as a factory-level methamphetamine production line.
Among the chemicals recovered were drums containing Phenyl-2-propanone (P2P), a key precursor used in methamphetamine production, and large quantities of phenylacetic acid, sulphuric acid, tartaric acid and caustic soda.
The agency also recovered industrial processing equipment, including a reactor pot, mounted distillation units, fabricated mixers and condensers, as well as vegetable dehydrator machines allegedly used in drying methamphetamine crystals.
According to the NDLEA, preliminary field tests conducted on samples recovered from the laboratory confirmed the presence of methamphetamine and other precursor substances used in its manufacture.
Marwa said the seized chemicals, drug samples and production equipment represented multibillion-naira investments capable of producing millions of doses of synthetic drugs for local and international markets.
He noted that the latest discovery, coming weeks after the dismantling of another methamphetamine laboratory in a forest in Ijebu East, Ogun State, suggests an attempt by drug cartels to establish a synthetic drug manufacturing hub in the South-West region.
“The proximity of these discoveries reveals a desperate attempt by drug barons to establish a synthetic drug manufacturing hub in the South-West axis,” he said.
Warning drug trafficking networks operating in and outside Nigeria, Marwa said the agency would continue to target and dismantle illicit drug production facilities regardless of their location.
“Let the message go out clearly to all drug cartels, domestic and international, that Nigeria is not, and will never be, a safe haven for your illicit trade,” Marwa said.
“We will find you in the cities, we will track you into the forests, and we will dismantle your infrastructure of death.”
The NDLEA chairman commended officers of the Oyo state command for their role in the operation and thanked members of the public for providing intelligence that aided the successful raid.
