NDLEA uncovers another meth factory, arrests Mexican, four Nigerians in Oyo Forest

By Adebola Isimijola, Lagos

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has uncovered and dismantled an industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory hidden in a forest in Oyo State, arresting a Mexican national and four Nigerians allegedly involved in the illicit operation.

The agency said the clandestine facility, located in Tapa Village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area, was operated by a Nigerian-Mexican drug cartel and stocked with multi-billion-naira worth of methamphetamine precursors, chemicals and industrial production equipment.

NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja through the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi.

Marwa said the laboratory was discovered during a raid by NDLEA tactical operatives on June 17, adding that the operation led to the arrest of Mexican methamphetamine expert, Jose Villa Ochoa, 56, and four Nigerian suspects identified as Maxwell Uche Nevoh, 30; Olatunji Yusuf, 37; Bankole Akeem Owolabi, 45; and Ganiu Monsiu, 43.

According to him, the Mexican suspect was recruited by the cartel to provide technical expertise for large-scale methamphetamine production.

“This was not a rudimentary setup; it was a sophisticated, highly organised transnational syndicate,” Marwa said.

He explained that a follow-up forensic examination of the facility revealed a fully equipped factory-level production line containing large quantities of precursor chemicals, including Phenyl-2-propanone (P2P), phenylacetic acid, sulphuric acid, caustic soda and tartaric acid.

The NDLEA boss said operatives also recovered reactor pots, distillation units, mixers, condensers and dehydrator machines used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

He added that laboratory tests conducted on samples recovered from the site confirmed the presence of methamphetamine and other controlled substances used in its production.

Marwa described the discovery as another major blow to transnational drug trafficking networks seeking to establish a synthetic drug production base in the South-West.

The latest operation comes less than a month after NDLEA dismantled a similar methamphetamine laboratory concealed in a forest in Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State.

Warning drug cartels against operating in Nigeria, Marwa said: “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. We will find you in the cities, we will track you into the forests, and we will dismantle your infrastructure of death.”

He commended officers of the agency’s Oyo State Command for their professionalism and bravery during the operation and thanked members of the public for providing intelligence that aided the breakthrough.