Crime Watch:
NDLEA Dismantles Meth Lab In Ebonyi, Arrests Alleged Mexican Drug Kingpin
The agency says the latest operation followed months of investigation into a wider suspected network linked to clandestine drug laboratories uncovered in parts of the country.
NDLEA operatives sealing the alleged meth Lab in Ebonyi State.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it has dismantled a suspected industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in Ebonyi State and arrested a Mexican national it described as an alleged drug kingpin while he was attempting to leave Nigeria through the Lagos airport.
The agency said the latest operation followed months of investigation into a wider suspected network linked to clandestine drug laboratories uncovered in parts of the country.
Briefing journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd), said the investigation had uncovered suspected attempts by transnational drug syndicates to establish methamphetamine production facilities in Nigeria’s forests and rural communities.
The alleged Mexican drug kingpin
Marwa, who was represented by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, recalled that NDLEA operatives had on May 16, 2026, 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 a forested part of Tapa village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State.
Read Also
No Space For Transnational Drug Cartels In Nigeria, Marwa Vows As NDLEA Arrests Fleeing Mexican Kingpin›
NDLEA Intercepts Colos From UK, Recovers Drugs Hidden In Bread, Speakers›
Drug Trafficking: NDLEA Warns Nigerians Against Accepting Consignments From Abroad›
The agency said field tests conducted at the Oyo State location confirmed the presence of methamphetamine and precursor chemicals.
Investigation Leads To Mexican Suspect
According to Babafemi, further investigation by the agency’s Special Operations Unit (SOU) indicated that the 56-year-old Mexican national arrested at the Oyo forest location, Jose Villa Ochoa, had allegedly been recruited into Nigeria by another Mexican national, Arturo Carrera Loaiza.
The NDLEA said it worked with international partners to obtain a photograph of Loaiza, which Ochoa allegedly identified as that of the person who recruited him and facilitated his movement into Nigeria.
The agency said intelligence gathered during the investigation indicated that Loaiza entered Nigeria on June 10, 2026, alongside another Mexican national, Jose Ceballos Perez.
Drums and containers recovered from the alleged meth laboratory in Ebonyi by the NDLEA.
On August 19, NDLEA operatives arrested Loaiza at the Lagos airport as he was allegedly attempting to leave the country.
The agency said that during interrogation, Loaiza claimed he had been invited to Nigeria by a Nigerian contact identified only as “Henry”, under the guise of a restaurant business venture.
According to the NDLEA, he also denied knowledge of methamphetamine production or involvement with the suspected laboratory in Tapa village.
However, the agency said its subsequent investigation produced evidence it believed linked him to suspected methamphetamine production.
“However, our findings told a different story. Investigators recovered images of Arturo dressed in a blue laboratory coat, standing amid equipment consistent with methamphetamine production. Analysis of the location metadata embedded in these images led our operatives to a property undergoing construction at Isiata Ugoni Okposi, Ebonyi State.”
CCTV Footage Provides Further Evidence
The NDLEA said its operatives visited the Ebonyi property on August 30, 2026. The property was linked by the agency to one John Samuel Ivo Okike.
According to the agency, interviews with people found at the site, including a site engineer and a caretaker, indicated that a suspicious temporary structure had been erected over the septic tank area at the rear of the building.
They also reportedly told investigators that strong chemical odours had been coming from the premises.
The agency said a CCTV memory card recovered from the property provided further evidence.
“Forensic review of the footage showed a foreign national in a blue laboratory coat on the premises, matching the image of Arturo Carrera Loaiza earlier recovered, as well as repeated appearances by John Samuel Ivo Okike,” the agency said.
Containers recovered from the alleged meth laboratory in Ebonyi by the NDLEA.
According to the NDLEA, the footage also showed the movement of chemicals and laboratory equipment from the property at about 9pm on August 21, 2026.
The agency alleged that Okike was seen directing the operation alongside other individuals who assisted in moving the materials.
Acting on further 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 man.
The agency said a subsequent raid on the location led to the recovery of chemicals, equipment and other materials it linked to suspected methamphetamine production.
The items allegedly recovered included a dehydrator containing a white cloth sieve embedded with loose methamphetamine, as well as three additional empty dehydrators.
The agency also listed 442.8kg of acetone, 37.1kg of toluene, a 20kg 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 items listed by the agency included condensing units, a condenser head, a condenser and a fabricated reaction pot, alongside an access pump, weighing scales, mixers, drums, gas burners, gloves and a blue laboratory coat which the NDLEA said matched the one seen in connection with the John Samuel property.
The agency said the recovered items, CCTV footage, forensic findings and eyewitness accounts had strengthened its case against individuals it linked to the suspected network.
Equipment recovered from the alleged meth laboratory in Ebonyi by the NDLEA.
Marwa Warns Against Drug Cartels
Marwa said the NDLEA would continue to pursue suspected transnational drug networks attempting to establish operations in Nigeria.
“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. The arrest of Arturo Carrera Loaiza and the dismantling of the Ebonyi State facility, coming so soon after the Ogun and Oyo State operations, demonstrate that this Agency’s intelligence and forensic capabilities are more than a match for these syndicates, however sophisticated they may believe themselves to be,” he stated.
The NDLEA chairman commended officers of the Special Operations Unit, Strike Force and Forensics, as well as personnel of the Oyo, Ogun and Ebonyi State Commands, for their work on the operations.
He said the agency would continue to pursue leads in the investigation, including those relating to suspected financiers and local enablers.
The NDLEA also appealed to Nigerians, particularly residents of rural and forested communities, to report suspicious activities, unusual chemical odours or unfamiliar structures to the agency.
It provided its toll-free line, 080010203040, and email address, info@ndlea.gov.ng, for such reports.
