MEXICAN DRUG KINGPIN ARRESTED AS NDLEA DISMANTLES METH LAB NETWORK

MEXICAN DRUG KINGPIN ARRESTED AS NDLEA DISMANTLES METH LAB NETWORK

By Jennifer Nwosu 

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled another industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory and arrested a Mexican drug kingpin who allegedly attempted to flee Nigeria through the Lagos airport, uncovering a wider network accused of moving clandestine drug production into forests and rural communities.

In a statement released Tuesday by the Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA said the development followed months of intelligence-led investigation into a network behind several clandestine methamphetamine laboratories uncovered in Ogun, Oyo and Ebonyi states.

The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd.), who briefed the media in Lagos, recalled that the agency arrested three Mexican nationals and seven Nigerian collaborators at a forest hideout in Ogun State on May 16, 2026. On June 17, another Mexican national and four Nigerian collaborators were arrested at a methamphetamine laboratory concealed in a forested area of Tapa village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State.

Investigations by the Special Operations Unit (SOU) identified 56-year-old Mexican methamphetamine expert Jose Villa Ochoa, arrested at the Oyo laboratory, as having been recruited into Nigeria by Mexican kingpin Arturo Carrera Loaiza. Ochoa positively identified Loaiza from a photograph obtained through international cooperation. Intelligence showed that Loaiza entered Nigeria on June 10 alongside another Mexican national, Jose Ceballos Perez.

Loaiza was arrested by NDLEA operatives on Aug. 19 while allegedly attempting to leave Nigeria through Lagos airport. He claimed he had been invited by a Nigerian contact known as Henry for a restaurant venture and denied involvement in methamphetamine production.

Investigators, however, recovered photographs showing Loaiza wearing a blue laboratory coat beside equipment associated with methamphetamine production. Location data from the images led investigators to a property under construction at Isiata Ugoni Okposi, Ebonyi State, linked to John Samuel Ivo Okike.

A search of the property on Aug. 30, along with interviews with a site engineer and caretaker, uncovered evidence including a suspicious temporary structure over the septic tank area and persistent chemical odours. A CCTV memory card recovered from the site provided further evidence, showing Loaiza in the blue laboratory coat and Okike repeatedly at the property.

The footage also captured the movement of chemicals and laboratory equipment from the property at about 9 p.m. on Aug. 21, with Okike allegedly directing the relocation.

Following intelligence from a confidential source, NDLEA operatives traced the materials to an isolated house in a neighbouring community under the custody of Nwanja Obasi. A raid produced a substantial cache of chemicals, equipment and paraphernalia linked to methamphetamine production.

Recovered materials included a dehydrator containing loose methamphetamine, three additional dehydrators, 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. Condensing units, laboratory equipment, pumps, weighing scales, mixers, drums, gas burners, gloves and a blue laboratory coat were also recovered.

The NDLEA said the recovery, together with CCTV footage, forensic findings and eyewitness accounts, has strengthened the case against members of the network.

Marwa warned that Nigeria would not become a base for international drug cartels seeking to relocate methamphetamine laboratories into the country's forests and rural communities. He said the arrest of Loaiza and the Ebonyi operation, coming after the Ogun and Oyo investigations, demonstrated the agency's growing intelligence and forensic capacity.

He commended officers of the Special Operations Unit, Strike Force, Forensics and the Oyo, Ogun and Ebonyi Commands for their professionalism and courage, and vowed that the NDLEA would pursue the wider network, including financiers and local enablers.

The agency also urged residents, particularly those in rural and forest communities, to report suspicious activities, unusual chemical odours and unfamiliar structures through its toll-free line, 080010203040, or info@ndlea.gov.ng.