The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a Mexican national, Arturo Carrera Loaiza, 40, in connection with the discovery of a suspected industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in Ebonyi State.
Loaiza was arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. According to the NDLEA, officials found digital images on his device showing him wearing what appeared to be a laboratory coat alongside equipment suspected to be used in methamphetamine production.
The agency said location data from the images led investigators to a property in Ebonyi State, where they allegedly discovered chemicals and equipment used in the production of the illicit drug.
Loaiza has denied involvement in methamphetamine production. According to the NDLEA, he told investigators that he had travelled to Nigeria after being invited by a local contact to participate in a restaurant business venture.
Investigators also reportedly recovered a CCTV memory card from the suspected laboratory. The footage allegedly showed a person resembling Loaiza wearing a blue laboratory coat, while a Nigerian man was seen directing people as they moved chemicals and equipment from the premises.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), said further intelligence led operatives to an isolated house in a neighbouring community, where they recovered **dehydrators, condensers, a reaction pot, weighing scales, mixers, drums, gas burners and other equipment**, including a sieve containing traces suspected to be methamphetamine.
The agency has not disclosed how much methamphetamine the facility could have produced.
The NDLEA further alleged that Loaiza had recruited and brought another Mexican national to Nigeria to work at a separate suspected methamphetamine laboratory concealed in a forest in Oyo State. That facility was raided in June, leading to the arrest of four Nigerians.
The development follows another operation a month earlier in which three Mexican nationals and seven Nigerians were arrested at a suspected industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory hidden in a forest.
Marwa said the operations indicated that international criminal groups were attempting to establish drug-production facilities in Nigeria's forests and rural communities.
> “Nigeria will not be allowed to become a haven for transnational drug cartels seeking to relocate their laboratories from other jurisdictions into our forests and rural communities,” Marwa said.
The NDLEA said investigations are continuing, including efforts to identify individuals who allegedly financed or facilitated the establishment of the suspected laboratories.
