Mexican drug cartels target Ogun, Oyo forests for meth production — NDLEA

Michael Olumide Alabi

National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has raised the alarm over attempts by international drug cartels to establish operational footholds in Nigeria, revealing that Nigerian and Mexican-linked criminal networks have been involved in setting up industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratories in forests across Ogun and Oyo States.

The Director of Media and Advocacy and spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this on Thursday during an interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu.

Babafemi said the agency had uncovered attempts by foreign criminal elements to penetrate Nigeria’s illicit drug market, adding that the NDLEA was taking the fight directly to criminal networks rather than waiting for illicit substances to be transported through airports, seaports and highways.

According to him, recent operations uncovered activities linked to drug production in forests in Ogun and Oyo States, while another operation in Ebonyi State had also resulted in arrests.

“We’ve seen recently the collaboration between the Nigerian-Mexican cartels trying to have methamphetamine in laboratories in the forests of Ogun and Oyo State, and just a few days ago had one again in Ebonyi State, and those behind that have been rounded up, and we will definitely make that public as soon as all the necessary protocols have been tidied up.”

He said the development demonstrated the increasingly international character of drug trafficking and the determination of foreign criminal networks to establish production bases in Nigeria.

Babafemi said the NDLEA was strengthening cooperation with law enforcement agencies in other countries to counter the activities of international drug networks.

“They are trying to come in through whatever means they have to establish footholds, because it’s a global phenomenon, it’s a global challenge, so they are all networked, and that’s why we also, as law enforcement, we also network with our counterparts.”

NDLEA Targets Cartels’ Financial Backbone
The agency spokesman said the NDLEA’s strategy had moved beyond the seizure of illicit drugs and arrest of suspects to the dismantling of the structures and financial networks sustaining organised drug trafficking.

He said intelligence sharing and operations were increasingly being used to identify drug networks and attack them at their sources.

“We’re mopping up all of those floods of illicit substances across our communities and our streets, but beyond that, we’re taking this to them, right wherever they may be trying to do this.”

According to Babafemi, the agency was also targeting the financial resources and operational assets of criminal organisations.

“We are dismantling all their structures and disabling their capacity and capability, whether in terms of their financial backbone or their instrumentalities.”

He said increased enforcement at Nigerian airports and seaports had also forced traffickers to adapt their routes, with some moving illicit substances through neighbouring countries before attempting to bring them into Nigeria.

Babafemi cited the dismantling of a cartel operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor as one of the agency’s recent operations.

NDLEA Monitors Social Media, Dark Web
Babafemi also disclosed that the agency was strengthening its capacity to monitor drug trafficking activities in cyberspace, including open social media platforms and the dark web.

He said several arrests had resulted from intelligence gathered from social media, while the agency was also monitoring cryptocurrency networks and dark-web marketplaces.

“We are a modern front-line agency. Quite a number of our arrests have emanated from social media, that I can tell you for free, meaning that we have teams monitoring developments, monitoring activities, whether on the open social media or even in the dark web.”

He said NDLEA personnel were receiving advanced training in financial investigation, asset tracing, recovery and management of proceeds linked to narcotics trafficking and organised crime.

The spokesman also warned social media influencers against glamorising illicit drug use, saying some influencers had already been sanctioned.

Agency partners actors, musicians

According to Babafemi, the NDLEA has adopted what he described as a “carrot and stick approach” in dealing with individuals and groups promoting illicit substances online.

He said the agency was combining enforcement with engagement aimed at changing the messaging of influencers and entertainment industry practitioners.

Babafemi disclosed that the NDLEA was working with the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) and other stakeholders in the entertainment industry to discourage the promotion and glorification of illicit drug use.

Ogun meth lab had potential to produce drugs worth almost N500bn

Babafemi said the NDLEA’s concerns now extended beyond traditional drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and tramadol to synthetic substances, including methamphetamine and Captagon.

He explained that cocaine was not produced in Nigeria but was transported from South America through Africa to various international destinations.

He said the high international value of illicit drugs had made Nigeria attractive to criminal networks seeking production and distribution opportunities.

According to him, the methamphetamine laboratory discovered in an Ogun forest had the potential to produce drugs estimated to be worth almost half a trillion naira.

“So, that’s why you see, what was to come out of the meth lab in the Ogun Forest was almost half a trillion Naira in value.”

NDLEA introduces alternative livelihoods for cannabis farmers

The agency spokesman also disclosed that the NDLEA had introduced an Alternative Development Programme aimed at encouraging cannabis farmers to abandon illicit cultivation and embrace legitimate livelihoods.

He said the pilot programme was launched in three communities in Ondo State — Ifon, Ilu-Abo and Eleyewo.

According to him, cannabis growers in the communities were encouraged to venture into poultry, fishing and other sustainable agricultural activities.

“The whole essence of that program was to help these areas where predominantly cannabis was being cultivated, and the agency had engagements with the cannabis growers, and then they were persuaded to switch from cannabis growing to alternative crops, cash crops, food crops.”

Babafemi said the agency’s Alternative Development Project team had returned to Ondo State to follow up on the second phase of the programme, adding that the outcomes had been “very tremendous.”

NDLEA Intercepts Drugs On High Seas
Babafemi further disclosed that the agency’s Marine Command had intensified surveillance of Nigeria’s waterways and was working to prevent traffickers from exploiting the country’s maritime routes.

He said NDLEA marine personnel had received specialised training in countries including the United Kingdom, United States and Brazil.
According to him, the command had intercepted cocaine, methamphetamine and cannabis on the high seas in Akwa Ibom State.

“Just last week, there were consignments of cocaine, meth, and cannabis that were seized on the high sea in Akwa Ibom State. That consignment was being taken to the Republic of Cameroon.”

NDLEA strengthens personnel against cartel threats

The spokesman also disclosed that NDLEA personnel were receiving additional training and equipment in response to the increasingly dangerous nature of drug trafficking operations.

He said officers had received specialised training and were covered by life and injury insurance, while the agency had acquired arms, ammunition, protective equipment, night-vision equipment and bulletproof operational vehicles.

Babafemi said modern AK-47 rifles had also been introduced into the NDLEA armoury for the first time in the agency’s history.

“We call it induction, especially for the first time in the history of the agency, modern AK-47 rifles have been introduced or inducted into the armoury of the agency. That’s to further fortify our personnel and our offices against these criminal elements.”

NDLEA builds residential facilities for officers

He said the agency was also providing residential accommodation for personnel in strategic locations to protect officers and their families from possible retaliation by drug traffickers.

According to him, facilities were being developed in Yola, Lagos, Abuja and Enugu.

“For the first time in the history of the agency, we are having barracks in parts of the country, so that our officers can stay in a secure environment with their family without the fear of going back to the midst of the same community where they have gone to arrest drug traffickers or drug dealers.”

Babafemi said the NDLEA remained determined to prevent criminal organisations from exploiting forests, waterways, digital platforms and international routes as ungoverned spaces for drug production and trafficking.

“We’re winning, as much as they want to continue to push this, we’re ensuring that they don’t have that space, the ungoverned space that they used to enjoy before now, that’s no longer the case.”

This version keeps the NDLEA’s claims clearly attributed, while bringing the strongest developments—foreign cartel activity, forest-based meth production, the nearly ₦500bn potential value, cyberspace, waterways and officer protection—to the forefront.