The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has uncovered a multi-billion-naira, industrial-scale clandestine methamphetamine laboratory operating deep within a fortified forest in Oyo State.
The breakthrough operation led to the arrest of five transnational syndicate members, including a 56-year-old Mexican national specifically recruited to provide advanced chemical expertise for the illicit synthetic drug manufacturing pipeline.
Disclosing the milestone on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, during a press briefing in Abuja, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), described the raid as a severe structural blow to international drug cartels trying to establish a manufacturing hub in South-West Nigeria.
Acting on zero-shot, highly credible intelligence, tactical operatives of the anti-narcotics agency stormed the hidden factory situated in Tapa Village, within the Ibarapa North Local Government Area, on June 17.
The NDLEA boss identified the captured foreign cartel specialist as Jose Villa Ochoa, who was arrested alongside four Nigerian accomplices: Maxwell Nevoh, 30; Olatunji Yusuf, 37; Bankole Owolabi, 45; and Ganiu Monsiu, 43.
Forensic experts deployed to the scene uncovered a massive, factory-level production line fully stocked with a frightening array of heavy-duty processing machinery, industrial catalysts, and highly controlled precursor chemicals.
> "The arrest of a foreign cartel specialist on Nigerian soil underscores the transnational nature of this threat, but more importantly, it underscores our agency’s world-class intelligence capability to track, intercept and neutralize them," Marwa stated through the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi.
"Let the message go out clearly to all drug cartels, domestic and international, that Nigeria is not and will never be a safe haven for your illicit trade."
The recovery operation yielded substantial volumes of raw materials undergoing synthesis, including 1,800-liter drums of phenylacetic acid (the primary precursor used to synthesize P2P), multiple drums containing phenyl-2-propanone, and a staggering 300 liters of a whitish crystalline substance which yielded a definitive positive field test for methamphetamine.
Operatives also seized 101 bags of caustic soda, several containers of sulphuric and tartaric acids, specialized vegetable dehydrator machines used for rapid crystal drying, distillation units, and a central reactor pot.
This high-profile bust comes barely four weeks after the NDLEA dismantled a parallel industrial meth facility hidden in the Ijebu forest axis of Ogun State, where three other Mexican chemists—Martinez Felix Nemecto, Jesus López Valles, and Torrero Juan Carlos—were similarly apprehended alongside four Nigerian suspects.
#NDLEA #BubaMarwa #OyoState #MethLaboratory #DrugBust #TransnationalCrime #FemiBabafemi
The breakthrough operation led to the arrest of five transnational syndicate members, including a 56-year-old Mexican national specifically recruited to provide advanced chemical expertise for the illicit synthetic drug manufacturing pipeline.
Disclosing the milestone on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, during a press briefing in Abuja, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), described the raid as a severe structural blow to international drug cartels trying to establish a manufacturing hub in South-West Nigeria.
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Acting on zero-shot, highly credible intelligence, tactical operatives of the anti-narcotics agency stormed the hidden factory situated in Tapa Village, within the Ibarapa North Local Government Area, on June 17.
The NDLEA boss identified the captured foreign cartel specialist as Jose Villa Ochoa, who was arrested alongside four Nigerian accomplices: Maxwell Nevoh, 30; Olatunji Yusuf, 37; Bankole Owolabi, 45; and Ganiu Monsiu, 43.
Forensic experts deployed to the scene uncovered a massive, factory-level production line fully stocked with a frightening array of heavy-duty processing machinery, industrial catalysts, and highly controlled precursor chemicals.
> "The arrest of a foreign cartel specialist on Nigerian soil underscores the transnational nature of this threat, but more importantly, it underscores our agency’s world-class intelligence capability to track, intercept and neutralize them," Marwa stated through the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi.
"Let the message go out clearly to all drug cartels, domestic and international, that Nigeria is not and will never be a safe haven for your illicit trade."
The recovery operation yielded substantial volumes of raw materials undergoing synthesis, including 1,800-liter drums of phenylacetic acid (the primary precursor used to synthesize P2P), multiple drums containing phenyl-2-propanone, and a staggering 300 liters of a whitish crystalline substance which yielded a definitive positive field test for methamphetamine.
Operatives also seized 101 bags of caustic soda, several containers of sulphuric and tartaric acids, specialized vegetable dehydrator machines used for rapid crystal drying, distillation units, and a central reactor pot.
This high-profile bust comes barely four weeks after the NDLEA dismantled a parallel industrial meth facility hidden in the Ijebu forest axis of Ogun State, where three other Mexican chemists—Martinez Felix Nemecto, Jesus López Valles, and Torrero Juan Carlos—were similarly apprehended alongside four Nigerian suspects.
#NDLEA #BubaMarwa #OyoState #MethLaboratory #DrugBust #TransnationalCrime #FemiBabafemi
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