Nigeria’s anti-drug agency has dismantled what officials describe as the largest methamphetamine operation ever uncovered in the country, seizing drugs and chemicals valued at approximately $363 million and arresting 10 suspects, including three Mexican nationals.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said coordinated raids carried out over 48 hours targeted a large clandestine drug laboratory hidden inside a forest in Ogun State, along with several linked properties in Lagos State.

Authorities said the operation uncovered an industrial-scale methamphetamine production facility at a farm in the Abidagba forest area of Ogun State. Investigators recovered about 2.4 tons of methamphetamine and large quantities of chemical materials used in drug production.

NDLEA Chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa said the operation followed months of intelligence gathering and exposed an international network bringing foreign expertise into Nigeria to manufacture illegal drugs locally.
Among those arrested were three Mexican suspects described by the agency as methamphetamine “cooks,” who were allegedly responsible for the technical production process at the laboratory site. Seven suspects were apprehended at the forest lab, while the alleged mastermind, identified as Anochili Innocent, was arrested at his residence in Lagos. Additional follow-up operations increased the total number of arrests to 10.

Officials say the massive seizure highlights a troubling shift by international drug cartels toward establishing production bases inside Nigeria rather than using the country solely as a transit route.

The agency warned that Nigeria and other West African countries are increasingly becoming key players in the global illegal drug trade, aided by porous borders and expanding ties between local criminal groups and Latin American trafficking networks.

Marwa said the NDLEA would intensify efforts to dismantle both local and international drug syndicates operating across the country.

Credit: AP