Court To Rule On NDLEA Bid To Destroy Nigerian-Mexican Drug Factory

Justice Musa Kakaki of the Federal High Court in Lagos will on July 24, rule on an application filed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) seeking permission to destroy a clandestine Nigerian-Mexican methamphetamine production laboratory uncovered in a remote forest in Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State.

Justice Kakaki fixed the date after a special court sitting held inside the illicit laboratory at Mowe village, where operatives discovered facilities allegedly used to produce 2,419.48 kilograms of methamphetamine valued at over N480 billion.

The NDLEA had, on July 10, arraigned three Mexican nationals and seven Nigerians on an 11-count charge bordering on the alleged establishment and operation of the clandestine laboratory.

The defendants are Juan Carlos Meza Torrero, Nemecio Martinez Felix and Jesus Lopez Valles, all Mexicans, alongside Anochili Innocent Nwankwo, Sunday Christian, Egwuonwu Uchenna Victor, Igwe Abuchi Remijus, Ifeanyichukwu Chibuike Joshua, Omonughwa Kingsley Orike and Emeka Christopher Nwobum.

The anti-narcotics agency had accused the defendants of allegedly manufacturing and possessing 2,419.48 kilograms of methamphetamine, a psychotropic substance classified alongside cocaine, heroin and LSD.

The NDLEA had also alleged that the defendants managed and financed a drug trafficking network and transported precursor chemicals, including toluene, phenyl-2-propanone (P2P), phenylacetic acid, acetone and hydrochloric acid, from Lagos to the clandestine laboratory using vehicles, including a Toyota Tacoma, a Mercedes-Benz with registration number APP 942 YL, and a Toyota Highlander marked GWA 662 DJ.

The agency had also accused the defendants of unlawfully possessing large quantities of precursor chemicals, including 358 kilograms of toluene, 1,834 kilograms of hydrochloric acid and 22.5 kilograms of acetone, allegedly intended for the production of methamphetamine.

All the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

At the resumed hearing of the case on Wednesday, the prosecution’s first witness, clandestine laboratory expert Ajilema Anebi, testified and tendered exhibits relating to the equipment and chemicals recovered from the laboratory.

Anebi told the court that substances recovered from the facility, where the second to the eighth defendants were arrested, were used for the production and storage of large quantities of methamphetamine intended for export outside Nigeria.

He said the identification of the substances followed scientific analysis conducted by him and his team.

The witness also explained the role of alcohol and hydrochloric acid in the methamphetamine production process, including the production of benzene.

The inventory of chemicals and equipment recovered from the laboratory had earlier been admitted in evidence by the court.

During the proceedings, NDLEA prosecuting counsel, Adekunle Adebanjo, reminded the court of the agency’s pending application seeking leave to destroy the multi-million-dollar clandestine methamphetamine laboratory.