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Three Mexican nationals and seven Nigerians, including a drug kingpin, have been arrested following the discovery of the largest clandestine methamphetamine laboratory ever uncovered in Nigeria, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has said.
The agency’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.) disclosed this at a media briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.
“Barely two weeks ago, we announced the successful takedown of a high-profile Drug Trafficking Organization headed by Simon Amadi in a complex, multi-country operation involving the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Swiss, French, and the Greek law enforcement agencies,” Marwa said.
“Today, I am proud to announce that the NDLEA has struck another crippling blow to the heart of transnational organized crime.”
According to Marwa, the laboratory was hidden in Abidagba forest in the Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State and was being operated by the Anochili Innocent Drug Trafficking Organisation.
“Through a clinical, simultaneous operation executed by the elite operatives of our Special Operations Unit, we have successfully dismantled a sophisticated, transnational methamphetamine production syndicate run jointly by a Nigerian drug cartel and their Mexican counterparts,” Marwa said.
“This network did not just traffic drugs; they were actively manufacturing industrial-scale quantities of highly lethal illicit substances right on our soil, threatening the national security and public health of Nigeria.”
Marwa said that after months of painstaking intelligence gathering, operatives launched well-coordinated strikes across Ogun and Lagos States within 48 hours last week.
“The primary target was a remote farm located at Abidagba forest, in the Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State. This farm was being used as a massive, highly dangerous clandestine methamphetamine laboratory by the Anochili Innocent Drug Trafficking Organisation,” he said.
At the forest laboratory, operatives arrested seven key members of the cartel, including three Mexican nationals allegedly brought into Nigeria specifically to produce methamphetamine.
The three Mexicans arrested at the forest lab were identified as Martinez Felix Nemecto, 46; Jesus López Valles, 40; and Torrero Juan Carlos, 51.
Nigerian suspects arrested at the site include Nwankwo Sunday Christian, 41; Igwe Abuchi Remijus, 42; Ifeanyichukwu Chibuike Joshua, 23; and Egwuonwu Uchenna Victor, 38.
Marwa said another tactical team simultaneously closed in on the luxury residence of the cartel’s mastermind.
“Simultaneously, another tactical team closed in on the luxury residence of the cartel’s mastermind, Anochili Innocent, located at No. 8 Tafawa Balewa Street, Golf Estate, Lakowe, Lekki area of Lagos State,” Marwa said.
“The drug baron was cornered and arrested. A meticulous search of his premises led to the recovery of the international passports and mobile phones of the three arrested Mexican cooks, directly linking him to the importation and management of the foreign criminals.”
Also recovered from the cartel include a Toyota Tacoma vehicle used for operations at the clandestine meth laboratory and a Toyota Highlander seized from the kingpin’s residence.
