The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a suspected Mexican drug kingpin, Arturo Carrera Loaiza, and dismantled an industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in Ebonyi State.
Loaiza was arrested on August 19, 2026, while allegedly attempting to leave Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
The NDLEA said the arrest followed months of investigation into a transnational drug network linked to clandestine methamphetamine laboratories uncovered in Ogun, Oyo and Ebonyi states.
The agency’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), disclosed the development in Lagos on Tuesday, September 15. He was represented at the briefing by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
According to Marwa, NDLEA operatives had earlier arrested three Mexican nationals and seven Nigerians at a forest hideout in Ogun State on May 16, 2026.
On June 17, another Mexican national, 56-year-old Jose Villa Ochoa, and four Nigerian collaborators were arrested at a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in a forested area of Tapa village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State.
The NDLEA said investigations into the Oyo operation established that Ochoa had allegedly been recruited into Nigeria by Loaiza.
Investigators working with international partners subsequently obtained a photograph of Loaiza, which Ochoa allegedly identified as the man who recruited and brought him into Nigeria.
The agency said intelligence showed that Loaiza entered Nigeria on June 10 alongside another Mexican national, Jose Ceballos Perez.
Ebonyi Meth Laboratory
According to the NDLEA, Loaiza denied involvement in methamphetamine production during interrogation and claimed he had been invited to Nigeria for a restaurant business.
Investigators, however, reportedly recovered photographs showing him wearing a blue laboratory coat and standing beside equipment consistent with methamphetamine production.
Analysis of location metadata embedded in the photographs allegedly led investigators to a property under construction at Isiata Ugoni Okposi in Ebonyi State. The property was raided on August 30.
The NDLEA said investigators found a suspicious temporary structure over the septic tank area, while the site engineer and caretaker reportedly told investigators that strong chemical odours had emanated from the premises.
A CCTV memory card recovered from the property also became part of the investigation.
The agency said forensic examination of the footage showed a foreign national wearing a blue laboratory coat, allegedly matching Loaiza’s photograph, as well as repeated appearances by a Nigerian suspect identified as John Samuel Ivo Okike.
The footage allegedly captured Okike directing the movement of chemicals and laboratory equipment from the property at about 9 p.m. on August 21.
Further intelligence reportedly led investigators to an isolated house in a neighbouring community, where the relocated materials were allegedly kept under the custody of another suspect, identified as Nwanja Obasi.
Recovered Chemicals
The subsequent raid led to the recovery of chemicals and laboratory equipment allegedly connected to methamphetamine production.
The NDLEA said the recovered materials included 442.8kg of acetone, 37.1kg of toluene, 20kg of an acetone/bromobenzene mixture, 1.7kg of ethanol, 5.1kg of chloride salt, 31.5kg of hydrochloric acid, 200kg of P2B and 1kg of tartaric acid.
Other items reportedly recovered included dehydrators, condensing units, a condenser head, a fabricated reaction pot, an access pump, weighing scales, mixers, drums, gas burners, gloves and a blue laboratory coat.
The agency also said a dehydrator containing a white cloth sieve embedded with loose methamphetamine was recovered from the location.
The NDLEA said the CCTV footage, forensic analysis and witness accounts had strengthened the case against those allegedly linked to the network.
