The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has raised the alarm over attempts by international drug cartels to establish industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratories in forests across Ogun and Oyo states.
The agency said on Thursday that Mexican-linked criminal networks were behind the plot to gain a foothold in Nigeria’s illicit drug market.
NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said this during an interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State.
According to him, recent operations had uncovered activities in the forests, while a separate operation in Ebonyi State had also led to arrests.
“We’ve seen recently the collaboration between the Nigerian-Mexican cartels trying to have methamphetamine laboratories in the forests of Ogun and Oyo State,” Babafemi said.
He said the development demonstrated the increasingly international nature of drug trafficking, with foreign criminal networks seeking to establish footholds in Nigeria.
He said the NDLEA was strengthening intelligence sharing with other Nigerian security agencies and international law enforcement partners to dismantle the networks at their sources.
He hinted that traffickers were also changing their routes because of increased enforcement at Nigerian airports and seaports, with some moving drugs through neighbouring countries before attempting to bring them into Nigeria.
He mentioned the dismantling of a cartel operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor, which he said had for years contributed to the supply of opioids fuelling drug abuse among Nigerian youths.
He further disclosed that the agency was monitoring drug trafficking on social media, the dark web and cryptocurrency networks.
He added that several arrests had resulted from online monitoring, while officers were receiving specialised training in financial investigation, asset tracing and recovery of proceeds from narcotics trafficking.
He also warned against social media influencers who glamorise illicit drug use, saying the agency was working with the Actors Guild of Nigeria and the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria to discourage the promotion of narcotics.
He described the NDLEA’s approach as a combination of enforcement and engagement aimed at changing the messaging of influencers.
The agency’s concerns now, he said, extend beyond cannabis, cocaine and tramadol to synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine and Captagon.
He said cocaine was imported from South America through Africa for onward movement to Europe and other destinations, while the high international value of narcotics continued to attract organised criminal networks.
He disclosed that the methamphetamine laboratory discovered in an Ogun forest had the capacity to produce drugs worth almost half a trillion naira.
“What was to come out of the meth lab in the Ogun Forest was almost half a trillion Naira in value,” he said.
He also disclosed that the NDLEA’s Marine Command recently intercepted consignments of cocaine, methamphetamine and cannabis on the high seas in Akwa Ibom State, allegedly destined for Cameroon.
He said the command’s personnel had received specialised training in countries including the United Kingdom, United States and Brazil.
He said the agency had also strengthened its operational capacity through the acquisition of arms, ammunition, protective equipment, night-vision devices and bulletproof vehicles.
According to him, modern AK-47 rifles had been introduced into the NDLEA armoury for the first time, while residential facilities were being provided for officers in Yola, Lagos, Abuja and Enugu to protect personnel and their families from possible retaliation.
The NDLEA spokesman said the agency was determined to prevent criminal organisations from exploiting forests, waterways, digital platforms and international routes as ungoverned spaces for drug production and trafficking.