The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has uncovered another large-scale clandestine methamphetamine production facility in the South-West, arresting a Mexican national and four Nigerian suspects during a raid on a forest hideout in Oyo State.
The agency described the operation as a major breakthrough against transnational drug syndicates seeking to establish manufacturing bases in Nigeria.
Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), said operatives acting on intelligence stormed the facility located deep inside a forest in Tapa Village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State on June 17.
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According to Marwa, who was represented by the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the laboratory was not a crude operation but an industrial-scale methamphetamine production centre allegedly linked to an international drug cartel.
Among those arrested were Jose Villa Ochoa, a 56-year-old Mexican national allegedly recruited as a methamphetamine production specialist, alongside four Nigerians identified as Maxwell Nevoh, Olatunji Yusuf, Bankole Owolabi and Ganiu Monsiu.
Marwa said the arrest of a foreign suspect highlighted the growing international dimension of illicit drug production in Nigeria.
“The arrest of a foreign cartel specialist on Nigerian soil underscores the transnational nature of this threat,” he said.
Following the raid, NDLEA forensic and chemical experts examined the facility and recovered large quantities of precursor chemicals, processing equipment and substances suspected to be methamphetamine.
Recovered items included drums of phenylacetic acid, phenyl-2-propanone, sulphuric acid, caustic soda, tartaric acid, thioglycolic acid, ethyl phenylacetate and other chemical compounds commonly associated with methamphetamine production.
The agency also recovered reactor pots, mounted distillation units, condensers, industrial mixers and dehydrator machines allegedly used in the manufacturing process.
According to Marwa, preliminary field tests carried out at the site confirmed the presence of methamphetamine crystals.
He described the discovery as another multi-billion-naira blow to organised criminal networks involved in synthetic drug production.
The latest operation comes barely a month after the NDLEA dismantled a major methamphetamine laboratory hidden in a forest in Ogun State, leading to the arrest of Mexican nationals and Nigerian collaborators linked to a transnational drug syndicate.
Security experts have warned that criminal groups are increasingly relocating drug production facilities into remote forest areas to evade law enforcement detection.
Marwa said the proximity between the Ogun and Oyo discoveries suggested a deliberate attempt by drug cartels to establish a synthetic drug manufacturing corridor in the South-West region.
“They thought hiding in dense forests would shield them from the long arm of the law. They were indeed very wrong,” he said.
The NDLEA boss warned local and international traffickers that Nigeria would not serve as a safe haven for drug manufacturing operations.
“We will find you in the cities, we will track you into the forests, and we will dismantle your infrastructure of death,” he added.
He commended officers of the NDLEA Oyo State Command and members of the public whose intelligence reportedly contributed to the successful operation.
