NDLEA D!smantles Industrial Meth Lab, Arrests Mexican Drug Kingpin In Lagos
NDLEA Dismantles Industrial Meth Lab, Arrests Mexican Drug Kingpin In Lagos
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled another industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in Ebonyi State and arrested a Mexican drug kingpin, Arturo Carrera Loaiza, who was attempting to flee Nigeria through the Lagos airport.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brigadier-General Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), disclosed this in Lagos on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, describing the operation as another breakthrough in the agency’s investigation into a wider transnational drug network.
Marwa, who was represented by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the investigation followed earlier arrests of Mexican nationals and their Nigerian collaborators at clandestine methamphetamine laboratories in Ogun and Oyo states.
The agency had, on May 16, arrested three Mexican nationals and seven Nigerian collaborators at a forest hideout in Ogun State.
On June 17, NDLEA operatives also arrested a 56-year-old Mexican methamphetamine expert, Jose Villa Ochoa, alongside four Nigerian collaborators at a clandestine laboratory in Tapa village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State.
According to the NDLEA, investigations established that Ochoa had been recruited into Nigeria by Loaiza, who entered the country on June 10 alongside another Mexican national, Jose Ceballos Perez.
The agency said Loaiza was arrested on August 19 while attempting to leave Nigeria through the Lagos airport.
During interrogation, he allegedly claimed that a Nigerian identified only as “Henry” had invited him to Nigeria under the guise of a restaurant business venture and denied knowledge of methamphetamine production.
However, the NDLEA said investigators recovered photographs showing Loaiza dressed in a blue laboratory coat and standing beside equipment consistent with methamphetamine production.
Analysis of location data from the photographs allegedly led investigators to a property under construction at Isiata Ugoni Okposi in Ebonyi State.
The agency said a search of the property on August 30 uncovered evidence of a clandestine operation, while CCTV footage showed a foreign national resembling Loaiza at the site and repeatedly captured John Samuel Ivo Okike.
The footage also allegedly showed chemicals and laboratory equipment being moved from the property on the night of August 21, with Okike seen directing the operation.
Acting on further intelligence, NDLEA operatives traced the relocated materials to an isolated house in a neighbouring community allegedly under the custody of Nwanja Obasi.
The raid led to the recovery of methamphetamine-related chemicals, laboratory equipment and other paraphernalia, including a dehydrator containing a white cloth sieve embedded with loose methamphetamine.
The agency also recovered hundreds of kilogrammes of chemicals, including acetone, toluene, P2B and hydrochloric acid, as well as condensers, a fabricated reaction pot, pumps, weighing scales, mixers, drums and gas burners.
Marwa warned that Nigeria would not become a base for international drug cartels seeking to establish laboratories in 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.
He added that the arrest of Loaiza and dismantling of the Ebonyi facility, coming after the Ogun and Oyo operations, demonstrated the agency’s intelligence and forensic capabilities.
Marwa commended personnel of the Special Operations Unit, Strike Force, Forensics and the Oyo, Ogun and Ebonyi State Commands for their roles in the operations.
He also vowed that the agency would continue pursuing the network, its financiers and local collaborators.
The NDLEA urged residents, particularly those in rural and forested communities, to report suspicious activities, unusual chemical odours and unfamiliar structures through its toll-free line, 080010203040, or by email at info@ndlea.gov.ng.
