Nigeria dismantles meth lab as fears over Mexican cartel links grow
Nigerian authorities have dismantled a large illegal methamphetamine laboratory hidden in a forest in Ogun State, as concerns grow over possible links between Mexican drug cartels and the country’s drug trade.
Officials from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) pulled down the makeshift lab on Wednesday after a court allowed it to be destroyed for environmental reasons.
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The decision came while the trial of three Mexican nationals linked to the case is still ongoing.
AFP journalists visited the site with NDLEA officers, who supervised the removal of large cooking pots, chemical containers and filtration equipment used to produce meth.
In May, NDLEA arrested 10 suspects, including three Mexicans and seven Nigerians, after raiding the lab and two houses in Lagos. The agency said it seized meth and chemicals worth about $360 million.
NDLEA Deputy Commander of Narcotics, James Taalba, said the agency is ready to tackle any international drug cartel operating in Nigeria.
The agency’s Director of Forensics, Patricia Afolabi, said the court ordered the lab to be destroyed because the chemicals used there posed serious risks to the environment, including air and groundwater pollution.
West Africa has long been a major transit route for cocaine being smuggled from South America to Europe. However, experts say meth is increasingly being produced locally, with reports suggesting that foreign drug experts have helped set up laboratories in Nigeria.
Another Mexican national was arrested in Oyo State in June in connection with a separate meth case.
A nearby farmer, Florence Banjo, said people in her village often noticed a strong smell coming from the forest but never suspected it was from a drug lab.
She said villagers had hoped construction work at the site was for a housing project that would also improve their road, but were later disappointed to discover it was an illegal drug operation.
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