The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has uncovered and dismantled a large-scale clandestine methamphetamine laboratory hidden in a forest at Tapa Village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State, arresting a Mexican national and four Nigerians linked to the operation.
According to the NDLEA, the facility was operated by a Nigerian-Mexican drug cartel and was discovered during a raid carried out by tactical operatives on June 17, 2026.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), represented by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, described the operation as a major breakthrough against transnational drug syndicates.
Marwa said the suspects arrested at the scene include 56-year-old Mexican methamphetamine expert, Jose Villa Ochoa, who was allegedly brought into Nigeria to provide technical expertise for large-scale drug production.
The four Nigerian suspects were identified as Maxwell Uche Nevoh, 30; Olatunji Yusuf, 37; Bankole Akeem Owolabi, 45; and Ganiu Monsiu, 43.
According to the agency, forensic experts who examined the facility discovered a fully operational industrial-scale meth production site stocked with precursor chemicals, industrial catalysts and processing equipment.
Recovered items included large quantities of Phenyl-2-propanone (P2P), Phenylacetic acid, Sulphuric Acid, Caustic Soda, Tartaric Acid, Thioglycolic Acid, Ethyl Phenylacetate and aluminium foil, alongside several drums containing substances undergoing chemical synthesis.
The NDLEA also recovered industrial equipment, including a reactor pot, mounted distillation units, mixers, condensers and vegetable dehydrator machines used in the production process.
Marwa said preliminary field tests conducted by forensic experts confirmed that samples recovered from the laboratory tested positive for methamphetamine.
He noted that all exhibits had been evacuated and preserved as evidence for prosecution.
The NDLEA boss described the discovery as another attempt by drug traffickers to establish a synthetic drug manufacturing hub in the South-West, noting that it came barely four weeks after the agency dismantled a similar meth laboratory in a forest in Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State.
He warned drug cartels operating within and outside Nigeria that the country would not become a safe haven for illicit drug production.
“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. We will find you in the cities, we will track you into the forests, and we will dismantle your infrastructure of death,” Marwa said.
He commended the officers involved in the operation and thanked members of the public for providing intelligence that aided the successful raid.
