BY FRONTLINE REPEORTERS

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled a suspected industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in Ebonyi State and arrested a 56-year-old Mexican national, Arturo Carrera Loaiza, whom the agency described as an alleged kingpin of a transnational drug network.

The suspect was arrested on August 19, 2026, at the Lagos airport while allegedly attempting to leave Nigeria, following months of investigation into a suspected network involved in establishing clandestine methamphetamine laboratories in parts of the country.

The NDLEA said the investigation had uncovered suspected attempts by transnational drug syndicates to establish methamphetamine production facilities in forests and rural communities.

Briefing journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd.), represented by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the latest breakthrough followed a series of operations in Ogun, Oyo and Ebonyi states.

According to the agency, operatives on May 16 arrested three Mexican nationals and seven Nigerian collaborators at a forest hideout in Ogun State. On June 17, another Mexican national and four Nigerian collaborators were arrested at a suspected clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in the forested Tapa village area of Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State.

Field tests conducted at the Oyo facility, the agency said, confirmed the presence of methamphetamine and precursor chemicals.

Investigation Tracks Suspect to Ebonyi

The NDLEA said further investigations by its Special Operations Unit (SOU) established that another 56-year-old Mexican national, Jose Villa Ochoa, arrested at the Oyo forest location, had allegedly been recruited into Nigeria by Loaiza.

The agency said it worked with international partners to obtain a photograph of Loaiza, which Ochoa allegedly identified as the man who recruited him and facilitated his movement into Nigeria.

According to the NDLEA, intelligence gathered during the investigation indicated that Loaiza entered Nigeria on June 10, 2026, alongside another Mexican national, Jose Ceballos Perez.

Following his arrest at the Lagos airport on August 19, the agency said Loaiza told investigators that he had been invited to Nigeria by a Nigerian contact identified only as “Henry” under the guise of a restaurant business venture.

He reportedly denied knowledge of methamphetamine production or any involvement with the suspected laboratory at Tapa village.

The NDLEA, however, said subsequent investigations produced evidence it believed linked Loaiza to suspected methamphetamine production.

The agency said investigators recovered photographs showing Loaiza dressed in a blue laboratory coat and standing amid equipment it said was consistent with methamphetamine production.

Analysis of the location metadata embedded in the photographs allegedly led investigators to a property under construction at Isiata Ugoni Okposi in Ebonyi State.

CCTV Footage Links Suspects to Facility

The NDLEA said its operatives visited the Ebonyi property on August 30 and linked it to one John Samuel Ivo Okike.

Interviews with people at the site, including a site engineer and caretaker, reportedly revealed that a suspicious temporary structure had been erected over the septic tank area at the rear of the building.

The witnesses also allegedly reported strong chemical odours emanating from the premises.

The agency said a CCTV memory card recovered from the property provided further evidence.

According to the NDLEA, forensic examination of the footage showed a foreign national wearing a blue laboratory coat, whom investigators said matched Loaiza in the previously recovered photographs.

The footage also allegedly showed repeated appearances by Okike.

The agency further claimed that the CCTV recordings captured the movement of chemicals and laboratory equipment from the property at about 9pm on August 21.

Okike was allegedly seen directing the movement of the materials with the assistance of other individuals.

Acting on additional intelligence from a confidential source, NDLEA operatives said they traced the materials to an isolated house in a neighbouring community, where they were allegedly being kept under the custody of another individual.

A subsequent raid, according to the agency, led to the recovery of chemicals, laboratory equipment and other materials suspected to be connected with methamphetamine production.

Hundreds of Kilograms of Chemicals Recovered

Among the items allegedly recovered was a dehydrator containing a white cloth sieve embedded with loose methamphetamine, alongside three additional empty dehydrators.

The NDLEA listed other recovered substances as 442.8kg of acetone, 37.1kg of toluene, 20kg of a mixture of acetone and bromobenzene, 1.7kg of ethanol, 5.1kg of chloride salt, 31.5kg of hydrochloric acid, 200kg of P2B and 1kg of tartaric acid.

Other equipment allegedly recovered included condensing units, a condenser head, condenser, fabricated reaction pot, access pump, weighing scales, mixers, drums, gas burners, gloves and a blue laboratory coat which the agency said matched the one seen in connection with the property linked to Okike.

The NDLEA said the recovered materials, CCTV footage, forensic analysis and eyewitness accounts had strengthened its investigation into the suspected network.

Marwa: Nigeria Won’t Become Haven for Drug Cartels

Marwa vowed that the agency would continue to pursue suspected transnational drug networks seeking to establish operations in Nigeria.

He said Nigeria would not be allowed to become a base for international drug syndicates attempting to relocate their laboratories into the country’s forests and rural communities.

Marwa commended personnel of the Special Operations Unit, Strike Force and Forensics teams, as well as officers of the Oyo, Ogun and Ebonyi State Commands, for their roles in the operations.

He said investigations would continue, particularly into suspected financiers and local collaborators allegedly connected with the network.

The NDLEA also urged residents, especially those living in rural and forested communities, to report suspicious activities, unusual chemical odours and unfamiliar structures that could indicate clandestine drug production.

The agency said members of the public could report such activities through its toll-free line, 080010203040, or via info@ndlea.gov.ng.

ADVERTISEMENTS