The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled another industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in Ebonyi State and arrested a Mexican drug kingpin accused of recruiting a methamphetamine expert into Nigeria.
The suspect, identified as Arturo Carrera Loaiza, was arrested on August 19, 2026, while attempting to flee Nigeria through the Lagos airport.
The NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), disclosed this on Tuesday in Lagos while briefing journalists on the agency’s latest operation.
Marwa, who was represented by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the arrest followed months of investigation into a wider network behind clandestine drug laboratories uncovered in Ogun and Oyo states.
The investigation began after the NDLEA arrested 56-year-old Mexican methamphetamine expert Jose Villa Ochoa and four Nigerians at a clandestine laboratory in Tapa village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State, on June 17.
According to the agency, Ochoa identified Loaiza as the Mexican national who recruited and brought him into Nigeria.
Intelligence also showed that Loaiza entered Nigeria on June 10 alongside another Mexican national, Jose Ceballos Perez.
The NDLEA said Loaiza initially denied any knowledge of methamphetamine production and claimed he came to Nigeria for a restaurant business after being invited by a Nigerian contact identified as “Henry.”
However, investigators allegedly recovered photographs showing Loaiza wearing a blue laboratory coat among equipment consistent with methamphetamine production.
Location data from the photographs led investigators to a property under construction at Isiata Ugoni Okposi in Ebonyi State.
A subsequent search of the property and review of CCTV footage allegedly showed Loaiza at the site, alongside Nigerian suspect John Samuel Ivo Okike.
The agency said the footage also captured the movement of chemicals and laboratory equipment from the property on August 21.
Investigators later traced the materials to an isolated house in a neighbouring community, where they were recovered.
The NDLEA said the items recovered included methamphetamine, dehydrators, reaction and condensation equipment, and large quantities of chemicals, including 442.8 kilogrammes of acetone, 37.1 kilogrammes of toluene, 31.5 kilogrammes of hydrochloric acid and 200 kilogrammes of P2B.
Marwa warned that Nigeria would not become a base for international drug cartels seeking to establish laboratories in the country.
“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 the arrest of Loaiza and the dismantling of the Ebonyi facility, coming after similar operations in Ogun and Oyo states, showed that the agency’s intelligence and forensic capabilities could match sophisticated drug syndicates.
Marwa commended officers of the Special Operations Unit, Strike Force, Forensics and the Oyo, Ogun and Ebonyi State Commands, and vowed that the agency would continue investigating the network, its financiers and local collaborators.
The NDLEA also urged residents of rural and forested communities to report suspicious activities, unusual chemical odours and unfamiliar structures.
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