Nigeria: Industrial methamphetamine lab dismantled, Mexican arrested
Following operations in Ogun and Oyo, Nigeria's drug investigation expands to Ebonyi State. The NDLEA connects the latest operation to a transnational network and the arrest of Arturo Carrera Loaiza, who was apprehended on August 19 in Lagos.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) announced on Tuesday, September 15, that it had dismantled an industrial-scale methamphetamine lab in Ebonyi State and arrested Arturo Carrera Loaiza, a Mexican national suspected of recruiting foreign specialists for a transnational network.
Loaiza was apprehended on August 19 at Lagos airport while attempting to leave Nigeria, according to information released by the NDLEA. The investigation subsequently led agents to a construction site in Isiata Ugoni Okposi, Ebonyi State, where an operation was conducted on August 30.
According to the agency, photographs and their location data, along with a memory card containing surveillance videos seized from the site, helped investigators track the movement of chemicals and equipment to a nearby isolated house. The NDLEA reported recovering 442.8 kg of acetone, 31.5 kg of hydrochloric acid, dehydrators, and synthesis equipment from the location.
The agency links this case to a series of clandestine labs discovered this year. On June 17, it arrested Mexican national Jose Villa Ochoa and four Nigerians at a lab in Tapa, Oyo State. In its statement on June 24, the NDLEA described this facility as an industrial production line and indicated that seized crystals tested positive for methamphetamine.
On September 3, NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi had already reported an operation in Ebonyi and stated that networks linked to Mexican nationals were seeking to establish labs in several states. The agency indicated that the suspects arrested in Ebonyi would be publicly presented after the necessary procedures were completed.
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