Nigerian police have dismantled a major methamphetamine lab, seizing an estimated $363 million in drugs and chemicals in the country’s largest ever seizure of its kind.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) announced late on Wednesday that coordinated raids on a farm in Ogun state and linked properties in Lagos state uncovered an industrial-scale hidden facility used to make drugs. More than 10 suspects were arrested, including three Mexican nationals.
The operation yielded 2.4 tonnes of methamphetamine and associated chemical materials. NDLEA chief Mohamed Buba Marwa said the operation, carried out over 48 hours after months of intelligence work, exposed a network importing foreign technical expertise to produce drugs locally.
Seven suspects, including three Mexicans described as meth cooks, were arrested at the farm used as a lab in Ogun state's Abidagba forest. The alleged mastermind, Anochili Innocent, was detained at his Lagos residence. Follow-up operations brought the total number of arrests to 10.
The sheer scale of the haul indicates a significant shift by drug cartels towards establishing production bases within Nigeria. This crackdown highlights Nigeria's increasing prominence as both a transit point and manufacturing hub in the global illicit drug trade.
