NDLEA arrests two over Nigerian-Mexican meth lab in Enugu

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two Nigerians over an alleged Nigerian-Mexican cartel operating a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in Enugu State.

The arrests are the latest in a series of drug-production investigations in Nigeria involving Mexican nationals and Nigerian collaborators that has raised concerns about the growing involvement of foreign methamphetamine specialists in clandestine laboratories being established in the country.

The agency, in a statement by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Thursday, said its special operations unit uncovered the laboratory in Eziama community, Obeagu, Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State.

It said the suspects, identified as Chukwu Christopher, 45, also known as Brown, and Chukwu Monday, 60, also known as George, were arrested after months of intelligence gathering and surveillance.

According to the NDLEA, the two men allegedly operated the laboratory in partnership with Rodriguez Villanueva, a Mexican drug cartel member based in Mexico City.

“As a result, they were arraigned before Hon. Justice Mabel Taiye Segun-Bello of the Federal High Court, Enugu Judicial Division, on a five-count charge bordering on conspiracy, the organisation, management and financing of a Drug Trafficking Organization, and unlawful possession of precursor chemicals used in methamphetamine production, contrary to the NDLEA Act,” the statement read.

The agency added that after their plea, the judge subsequently fixed 21 October for trial following an application by the NDLEA for an accelerated hearing.

Meanwhile, NDLEA said three other people, Uchenna, alias Uche; Celestine Iwuchukwu; and Mr Villanueva, were also named in the charge but remained at large, the agency said.

Mexican meth specialists

The Enugu case comes amid a series of NDLEA operations in 2026 in which Mexican nationals have been arrested in connection with large-scale methamphetamine production in Nigeria.

In May, the agency dismantled what it described as the largest clandestine methamphetamine laboratory discovered in Nigeria, in a forest in Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State.

Ten suspects were arrested in that operation, including three Mexican nationals whom the NDLEA said were brought into Nigeria to provide technical expertise for methamphetamine production. The agency said it recovered more than 2.4 tonnes of methamphetamine and precursor chemicals valued at about $362.9 million.

Barely a month later in June, the agency uncovered another industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in Tapa Village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State.

Among five suspects arrested at the facility was Jose Ochoa, a 56-year-old Mexican national whom the NDLEA described as a methamphetamine production expert recruited to Nigeria to provide technical assistance.

In September, the agency announced the arrest of another Mexican national, Arturo Loaiza, whom it accused of recruiting Mr Ochoa into Nigeria.

Mr Loaiza was arrested on 19 August while attempting to leave Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. The investigation subsequently led the NDLEA to a suspected methamphetamine laboratory in Ebonyi State.

The latest Enugu operation adds another state to the growing list of locations where the agency says Nigerian networks have worked with Mexican nationals or Mexican-linked criminal networks in methamphetamine production.

The discoveries in Ogun and Oyo had earlier prompted concerns that parts of southern Nigeria could be emerging as a manufacturing base for synthetic drugs, rather than merely serving as a transit or consumer market.

How Enugu laboratory was uncovered

The NDLEA said its surveillance operation between 1 and 4 December 2025 tracked Mr Christopher’s movements across Lagos, Enugu and Anambra states.

The operation eventually led investigators to a compound in Obeagu, where they discovered a clandestine laboratory equipped with improvised reactors and distillation apparatus.

The agency said the facility had the capacity to produce methamphetamine in commercial quantities and resembled laboratories recently dismantled in Ogun, Oyo and Ebonyi states.

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“A search of the premises led to the recovery of vast quantities of precursor chemicals, including 690 litres of methylamine, 1,000 litres of isopropyl alcohol, 300 litres of hydrochloric acid, 290 litres each of toluene and acetone, 400 litres of liquid sodium hydroxide, 125 kilogrammes of N-phenylacetamide, 414 kilogrammes of lead acetate, and 769.6 kilograms of tartaric acid, among other controlled substances, a haul consistent with a high-potency, P2P-based methamphetamine manufacturing operation,” the statement read.

The NDLEA said the recovered chemicals were consistent with a high-potency, P2P-based methamphetamine manufacturing operation.

A related search of Mr Monday’s family residence also produced eight large fuel tanks, four commercial gas burners, four dehydrators and 11 kilogrammes of ephedrine. The agency said the discoveries indicated the scale of the alleged operation.

NDLEA vows to pursue suspects

NDLEA Chairman, Mohamed Marwa, said the agency would continue its investigation and pursue suspects still at large.

Mr Marwa described the Enugu laboratory as further evidence of attempts by transnational drug networks to establish operations in Nigeria.

He commended officers involved in the operation and said the agency would continue to work with international partners to disrupt drug-production networks.