The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a Mexican drug kingpin, Arturo Carrera Loaiza, while attempting to leave Nigeria through the Lagos airport and dismantled an industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in Ebonyi State.
The NDLEA said the operation followed months of investigation into a transnational criminal network behind clandestine drug laboratories uncovered in Ogun, Oyo and Ebonyi states.
The agency’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), disclosed this on Tuesday in Lagos during a media briefing. He was represented by the Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
Marwa said the latest breakthrough was linked to the arrest of three Mexican nationals and seven Nigerian collaborators at a forest hideout in Ogun State on May 16, 2026.
He added that another Mexican national, 56-year-old Jose Villa Ochoa, and four Nigerian collaborators were arrested on June 17 at a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in a forested area of Tapa village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State.
According to the agency, investigations established that Ochoa had been recruited into Nigeria by Loaiza, who entered the country on June 10 alongside another Mexican national, Jose Ceballos Perez.
The NDLEA said Loaiza was arrested on August 19 while attempting to flee Nigeria through the Lagos airport.
During interrogation, the suspect allegedly claimed that a Nigerian contact identified as “Henry” invited him to the country under the guise of a restaurant business venture. He also denied knowledge of methamphetamine production or involvement with the Tapa laboratory.
However, investigators reportedly recovered photographs showing Loaiza wearing a blue laboratory coat and standing beside equipment associated with methamphetamine production.
The agency said analysis of the photographs’ location metadata led operatives to a property under construction at Isiata Ugoni Okposi in Ebonyi State.
On August 30, NDLEA operatives raided the property, which was linked to John Samuel Ivo Okike. Interviews with a site engineer and caretaker reportedly revealed the presence of a suspicious temporary structure over a septic tank and persistent chemical odours from the premises.
A CCTV memory card recovered from the property allegedly showed a foreign national wearing a blue laboratory coat, matching Loaiza’s photograph, as well as repeated appearances by Okike.
The footage also captured the movement of chemicals and laboratory equipment from the property at about 9 p.m. on August 21. Okike was allegedly seen directing the relocation alongside other individuals.
Acting on further intelligence, operatives traced the materials to an isolated house in a neighbouring community, where they were reportedly kept under the custody of one Nwanja Obasi.
The raid on the house led to the recovery of a dehydrator containing a white cloth sieve embedded with loose methamphetamine, three additional empty dehydrators and several chemicals and pieces of laboratory equipment.
The recovered substances included 442.8kg of acetone, 37.1kg of toluene, 20kg of an acetone-bromobenzene mixture, 1.7kg of ethanol, 5.1kg of chloride salt, 31.5kg of hydrochloric acid, 200kg of P2B and 1kg of tartaric acid.
Other items recovered were condensing units, a condenser head, a condenser, a fabricated reaction pot, an access pump, weighing scales, mixers, drums, gas burners, gloves and a blue laboratory coat similar to the one seen in the CCTV footage.
The NDLEA said the recovery, together with the CCTV footage, forensic findings and eyewitness accounts, had strengthened the case against those connected to the network.
Marwa warned that Nigeria would not become a safe haven for international drug cartels seeking to establish laboratories in the country’s forests and rural communities.
“Let me be unequivocal, Nigeria will not be allowed to become a haven for transnational drug cartels seeking to relocate their laboratories from other jurisdictions into our forests and rural communities,” he said.
He added that the arrest of Loaiza and the dismantling of the Ebonyi facility, following the operations in Ogun and Oyo, demonstrated the agency’s intelligence and forensic capabilities.
Marwa commended operatives of the Special Operations Unit, Strike Force, Forensics and the NDLEA commands in Oyo, Ogun and Ebonyi states for their diligence and professionalism.
He vowed that the agency would continue to pursue every lead until the entire network, including its financiers and local collaborators, was brought to justice.
The NDLEA also urged residents, particularly those living in rural and forested communities, to report suspicious activities, unusual chemical odours and unfamiliar structures through its toll-free line, 080010203040, or via [email protected].
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