The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives have dismantled another industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory and arrested a Mexican drug kingpin who was attempting to flee Nigeria through the Lagos airport.
Buba Marwa, NDLEA chairman, announced the development while briefing journalists in Lagos on Tuesday.
Marwa, who was represented by Femi Babafemi, NDLEA director of media and advocacy, said the breakthrough followed months of investigation into a wider criminal network linked to a string of clandestine drug laboratories uncovered in parts of the country this year.
He said the agency’s special operations unit (SOU) had established that Jose Villa Ochoa, a 56-year-old Mexican methamphetamine expert arrested at a forest laboratory in Oyo state, was recruited into Nigeria by Arturo Carrera Loaiza, a Mexican drug kingpin.
According to Marwa, NDLEA investigators, working with international partners, obtained a photograph of Loaiza, which Ochoa positively identified as the person who recruited and brought him into Nigeria.
He said intelligence showed that Loaiza entered Nigeria on June 10 alongside another Mexican national, Jose Ceballos Perez.
“On 19th August 2026, our operatives tracked down and arrested Arturo Carrera Loaiza attempting to flee the country through the Lagos airport,” Marwa said.
Marwa said Loaiza claimed during interrogation that he had been invited to Nigeria by a Nigerian contact identified only as “Henry”, under the guise of a restaurant business venture.
He said the suspect also denied knowledge of methamphetamine production or involvement with the Tapa village laboratory.
“However, our findings told a different story. Investigators recovered images of Arturo dressed in a blue laboratory coat, standing amid equipment consistent with methamphetamine production,” Marwa said.
He said analysis of the location metadata embedded in the images led investigators to a property under construction at Isiata Ugoni Okposi in Ebonyi state.
According to him, operatives raided the property on August 30. The building was linked to John Samuel Ivo Okike.
Marwa said interviews with people found at the site, including the site engineer and a caretaker, revealed a suspicious temporary structure had been erected over the septic tank area at the rear of the building.
He said the witnesses also reported persistent strong chemical odours from the premises.
“A CCTV memory card recovered from the property proved decisive,” Marwa said.
He said forensic analysis of the footage showed a foreign national wearing a blue laboratory coat at the property, matching the image of Loaiza, as well as repeated appearances by Okike.
Marwa said the footage also captured the movement of chemicals and laboratory equipment from the property at about 9pm on August 21, with Okike allegedly directing the operation alongside others.
He said further intelligence from a confidential source led operatives to an isolated house in a neighbouring community where the relocated materials were kept under the custody of Nwanja Obasi.
A raid on the location led to the recovery of methamphetamine-related chemicals, equipment and paraphernalia, including a dehydrator containing a white cloth sieve embedded with loose methamphetamine and three additional empty dehydrators.
The agency also recovered 442.8kg of acetone, 37.1kg of toluene, 20kg of an acetone-bromobenzene mixture, 1.7kg of ethanol, 5.1kg of chloride salt, 31.5kg of hydrochloric acid, 200kg of P2B and 1kg of tartaric acid.
Other items recovered included condensing units, a condenser head, a condenser, a fabricated reaction pot, an access pump, weighing scales, mixers, drums, gas burners, gloves and a blue laboratory coat matching the one recovered at the property linked to Okike.
“This recovery, taken together with the CCTV evidence, other forensic evidence and eyewitness accounts, has significantly strengthened the case against all persons connected to this network,” Marwa said.
PREVIOUS OPERATIONS
Marwa recalled that NDLEA operatives had arrested three Mexican nationals and seven Nigerian collaborators at a forest hideout in Ogun state on May 16.
He said another Mexican national and four Nigerian collaborators were arrested on June 17 at a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory hidden in a forested part of Tapa village, Ibarapa North LGA of Oyo state.
Field tests at the Oyo laboratory confirmed large quantities of methamphetamine and precursor chemicals, he added.
‘NO SPACE FOR TRANSNATIONAL CARTELS’
Marwa warned that Nigeria would not become a safe haven for transnational drug cartels seeking to relocate their laboratories into the country’s forests and rural communities.
“Let me be unequivocal, Nigeria will not be allowed to become a haven for transnational drug cartels seeking to relocate their laboratories from other jurisdictions into our forests and rural communities,” he said.
Marwa said the arrest of Loaiza and the dismantling of the Ebonyi facility, following the Ogun and Oyo operations, demonstrated the agency’s intelligence and forensic capabilities.
He commended officers of the SOU, strike force, forensics and the Oyo, Ogun and Ebonyi commands for their diligence and professionalism.
The NDLEA chairman also vowed that the agency would continue pursuing every lead until the full network, its financiers and local enablers were brought to justice.
