Three Mexican citizens were arrested on Saturday, May 16, in the largest methamphetamine lab ever discovered in Nigeria, in an operation that revealed the expansion of Mexican cartels into Africa to produce drugs destined for Europe and the Middle East.
The operation, carried out by the Nigerian National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in the states of Ogun and Lagos over a period of 48 hours, resulted in 10 arrests, the seizure of 2,419 kilograms of methamphetamine, and the dismantling of a Nigerian-Mexican transnational syndicate valued at $362 million.
The three Mexicans arrested were identified as Nemecto Martínez Félix, 46; Jesús López Valles, 40; and Juan Carlos Torrero, 51.
The NDLEA described them as “technical experts” brought to Nigeria for the specific purpose of setting up and operating the lab, according to the agency’s chairman, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa, speaking at a press conference in Abuja.
The lab was hidden in the Abidagba Forest, in Ijebu East Township, Ogun State, in southwestern Nigeria, on a remote farm operated by the criminal organization known as the Anochili Innocent Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO).
