The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested ten people and recovered illicit substances worth over N480 billion from a transnational methamphetamine manufacture syndicate that was allegedly run by a Nigerian drug cartel working with Mexicans.
During a media event in Abuja on Wednesday, retired Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, the Chairman of the NDLEA, revealed the breakthrough and called the operation a significant setback against transnational organized crime.
The operations, which took place in Ogun and Lagos states in less than 48 hours, resulted in the seizure of more than 2.4 tonnes of methamphetamine and precursor chemicals, the arrest of suspected cartel members, including three Mexican nationals, and the discovery of a sizable methamphetamine laboratory concealed in an Ijebu forest.
Marwa claims that in addition to trafficking drugs, the Ijebu group was producing “industrial-scale quantities” of methamphetamine in Nigeria, endangering both national security and public health.
“We have successfully dismantled a sophisticated, transnational methamphetamine production syndicate run jointly by a Nigerian drug cartel and their Mexican counterparts through a clinical, simultaneous operation executed by the elite operatives of our SOU,” Marwa stated.
According to Marwa, the main aim was a secluded farm in Ogun’s Ijebu East Local Government Area at Abidagba Forest.
We captured seven important cartel members who were manufacturing illegal narcotics at this facility. Most importantly, the operation validates our information about local cartels importing foreign technical talent. He stated that four Nigerian collaborators and three Mexican nationals who were reportedly brought into Nigeria expressly to produce methamphetamine were among those detained.
The Special Operations Unit of the NDLEA conducted synchronized operations throughout Ogun and Lagos states on May 16 after months of intelligence collection, according to the chairman of the agency.
Marwa also revealed that investigators found the passports and cell phones of the detained Mexican nationals during a simultaneous search on the suspected cartel kingpin’s Lekki home at Golf Estate, Lakowe, Lagos.
He continued by saying that subsequent investigations brought agents to a different Mayfair Estate property in Lakowe, where they apprehended a second alleged syndicate member.
Ten individuals, including the suspected cartel head, three Mexicans, and six Nigerian collaborators, were apprehended as a result of the crackdown, according to the NDLEA.
He added that the quantity recoverd represents millions of street doses capable of causing widespread additions, violence and damages
“To put this in perspective, the 2,419.48 Kilo Grammes of finished and liquid methamphetamine seized represents millions of street doses that would have flooded our local communities and international markets, causing untold destruction, psychosis, and violence,”
the NDLEA chairman said.
The agency also recovered a Toyota Tacoma allegedly used for operations at the meth laboratory and a Toyota Highlander seized from the residence of the suspected kingpin.
He warned that the NDLEA was monitoring the growing trend of local cartels bringing in foreign specialists from South America to establish drug production facilities in rural communities across the country.
The government claims that workers found 2,419.48 kg of liquid and crystallized methamphetamine, as well as industrial solvents and precursor chemicals purportedly used in drug manufacturing.
According to Marwa, the medicines that were confiscated were worth roughly $362.9 million on the global market.
This amounts to more over N480 billion. Imagine this enormous sum under the influence of criminal elements!
