NDLEA busts Mexican drugs at Lagos airport – THISAGE

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a Mexican drug kingpin, Arturo Carrera Loaiza, as he attempted to flee Nigeria through Lagos airport, as the agency dismantled another industrial-scale clandestine methamphetamine laboratory linked to a transnational drug network.

The latest operation, the anti-narcotics agency says, represents another major step forward in its campaign against international drug cartels seeking to establish methamphetamine production bases in Nigeria’s forests and rural communities.

The President/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), disclosed the development while briefing journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, September 15, 2026.

Marwa, represented by the Agency’s director of media and advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the breakthrough was the result of months of painstaking investigations into a wider criminal network behind a series of clandestine drug laboratories discovered across the country.

The investigation followed a chain of arrests involving Mexican nationals and their Nigerian collaborators in Ogun and Oyo states.

On May 16, 2026, NDLEA agents arrested three Mexican nationals and seven Nigerian collaborators in a forest hideout in Ogun State.

On June 17, another Mexican national and four Nigerian collaborators were arrested at a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory hidden in a forested part of Tapa village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of ​​Oyo State.

Field tests at Oyo’s laboratory confirmed the presence of large quantities of methamphetamine and precursor chemicals.

Investigations by the Special Operations Unit (SOU) of the NDLEA later established that the 56-year-old Mexican methamphetamine expert arrested at the Oyo laboratory, Jose Villa Ochoa, was allegedly recruited in Nigeria by Loaiza.

Working with international partners, NDLEA investigators obtained a photograph of Loaiza, who Ochoa positively identified as the man who recruited him and facilitated his movement into Nigeria.

Further information indicated that Loaiza entered Nigeria on June 10, 2026, along with another Mexican national, Jose Ceballos Perez.

The investigation eventually led NDLEA officers to Loaiza.

On August 19, 2026, he was arrested while allegedly attempting to leave Nigeria via Lagos Airport.

During interrogation, Loaiza allegedly said he was invited to Nigeria by a Nigerian contact identified only as “Henry” under the guise of a catering business. He also denied knowledge of methamphetamine production and involvement in the Tapa village laboratory.

However, the NDLEA said investigators uncovered evidence that contradicted its claims.

According to the agency, photographs recovered during the investigation showed Loaiza dressed in a blue lab coat and standing amid equipment believed to be compatible with the production of methamphetamine.

The photographs later provided investigators with another important discovery.

Analysis of location metadata embedded in the images led operators to an under-construction property in Isiata Ugoni Okposi, Ebonyi State.

NDLEA operatives display chemicals, laboratory equipment and other paraphernalia recovered from the clandestine methamphetamine laboratory linked to the suspected transnational drug network in Ebonyi State.

On August 30, NDLEA operatives moved to Ebonyi property.

Interviews with people found on site, including the site engineer and a custodian, reportedly revealed the existence of a suspicious temporary structure erected over the septic tank area at the rear of the building.

Investigators were also made aware of a persistent strong chemical odor coming from the premises.

A CCTV memory card recovered from the property later provided what the agency described as crucial evidence.

Forensic examination of the footage showed a foreign national wearing a blue lab coat on the premises. The person was said to match Loaiza in the photograph previously recovered by investigators.

CCTV footage repeatedly showed Okike in the property.

More critically, the footage captured, at around 9pm on August 21, the movement of chemicals and laboratory equipment out of the property.

Okike was reportedly seen directing the operation, while other people assisted in the transfer of materials.

Based on additional information from a confidential source, NDLEA officers traced the relocated materials to an isolated house in a nearby community.

The house was reportedly under the custody of one Nwanja Obasi.

A subsequent raid led to the recovery of a significant cache of chemicals, equipment and paraphernalia associated with methamphetamine production.

Items recovered included a dehydrator containing a white cloth sieve soaked in loose methamphetamine and three other empty dehydrators.

The agency also recovered 442.8 kg of acetone, 37.1 kg of toluene, a mixture of 20 kg of acetone and bromobenzene, 1.7 kg of ethanol, 5.1 kg of chloride salt, 31.5 kg of hydrochloric acid, 200 kg of P2B and 1 kg of tartaric acid.

Other equipment recovered included condensing units, a condenser head, a condenser, a fabricated reaction vessel, an access pump, scales, mixers, drums, gas burners and gloves.

A blue lab coat matching the one seen in evidence recovered from John Samuel’s property was also recovered.

The NDLEA said the recovery, combined with CCTV footage, forensic evidence and eyewitness testimony, significantly strengthened the case against those connected to the network.

Marwa has issued a stern warning to international drug cartels seeking to establish production bases in Nigeria.

He said the country will not be allowed to become a safe haven for transnational criminal organizations seeking to relocate their pharmaceutical laboratories from other jurisdictions.

“Let me be unequivocal: Nigeria will not be allowed to become a haven for transnational drug cartels seeking to move their laboratories from other jurisdictions into our forests and rural communities,” Marwa said.

He said the arrest of Loaiza and the dismantling of the Ebonyi facility, which came soon after operations in Ogun and Oyo states, demonstrated the ability of the NDLEA intelligence and forensic teams to penetrate sophisticated international drug networks.

According to him, the agency’s capabilities were “more than a match” for the unions, regardless of how sophisticated they believed themselves to be.

Marwa commended officers of the Special Operations Unit, Strike Force and Forensic teams, as well as personnel of the NDLEA commands in Oyo, Ogun and Ebonyi states, for their diligence, professionalism and courage.

He promised that the agency would continue to pursue every lead until the entire network, including its financiers and Nigerian facilitators, was identified and brought to justice.