The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has uncovered and dismantled a large-scale clandestine methamphetamine production laboratory hidden deep inside a forest in Tapa Village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State, arresting a Mexican national and four Nigerians allegedly involved in the illicit operation.
The agency described the discovery as another major breakthrough in its ongoing crackdown on transnational drug trafficking networks operating within Nigeria.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, NDLEA chairman and chief executive officer, Mohamed Marwa said the operation was carried out on June 17 by tactical operatives who stormed the highly fortified facility concealed within the forest.
Marwa, who was represented by the agency’s Director of Media and advocacy, Femi Babafemi explained that the laboratory was not a rudimentary setup but a sophisticated industrial-scale operation run by a Nigerian-Mexican drug cartel.
According to him, five suspects were arrested during the raid, including 56-year-old Mexican methamphetamine expert, Jose Villa Ochoa, who was allegedly brought into the country to provide technical expertise for large-scale drug production.
The four Nigerian suspects arrested were identified as Maxwell Uche Nevoh, 30; Olatunji Yusuf, 37; Bankole Akeem Owolabi, 45; and Ganiu Monsiu, 43.
Marwa further said “The arrest of a foreign cartel specialist on Nigerian soil underscores the transnational nature of this threat, but more importantly, it demonstrates our agency’s intelligence capability to track, intercept and neutralise criminal networks.”
He noted that a team from the agency’s Directorate of Forensic and Chemical Monitoring subsequently conducted a detailed examination of the facility, uncovering what he described as a factory-level methamphetamine production line.
Other substances recovered from the raid include large quantities of highly controlled precursor chemicals, including Phenyl-2-propanone (P2P), phenylacetic acid, sulphuric acid, tartaric acid, thioglycolic acid and ethyl phenylacetate.
The agency also recovered 101 bags of caustic soda, 25 cartons of aluminium foil, several drums containing substances undergoing chemical synthesis, and hundreds of litres of chemical compounds linked to methamphetamine production.
Industrial equipment discovered at the site included a reactor pot, two mounted distillation units, three fabricated mixers and condensers, as well as two vegetable dehydrator machines used in drying crystal methamphetamine.
Marwa disclosed that field tests conducted by NDLEA forensic experts confirmed that samples of the recovered crystals tested positive for methamphetamine, while substances recovered from some of the drums tested positive for phenylacetic acid, a key precursor in the production process.
He said that all exhibits had been safely evacuated and documented for prosecution purposes.
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