Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested six suspects, including two Mexican nationals.
The agency dismantled an industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in Ebonyi state and intercepted a Mexican drug kingpin attempting to flee Nigeria through the Lagos airport.
The breakthrough followed months of investigation into a transnational drug network allegedly recruiting foreign methamphetamine experts to establish clandestine laboratories in Nigerian forests and rural communities.
Briefing journalists in Lagos, Tuesday, the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (retd.), represented by the Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the development demonstrated the agency’s growing capacity to dismantle sophisticated international drug syndicates.
The Mexican kingpin, identified as Arturo Carrera Loaiza, was arrested at the Lagos Airport on August 19, 2026, while allegedly attempting to leave the country.
His arrest was linked to an earlier operation in Oyo state, where a 56-year-old Mexican methamphetamine expert, Jose Villa Ochoa, and four Nigerian collaborators were arrested on June 17 at a clandestine laboratory hidden in a forested area of Tapa village, Ibarapa North local government area.
NDLEA investigations said Ochoa allegedly identified Loaiza as the man who recruited and brought him into Nigeria. Intelligence further indicated that Loaiza entered Nigeria on June 10 alongside another Mexican national, Jose Ceballos Perez.
Following Loaiza’s arrest, investigators reportedly recovered photographs showing him wearing a blue laboratory coat and standing among equipment consistent with methamphetamine production.