The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a Mexican national, Arturo Carrera Loaiza, accused of being a key figure in a transnational methamphetamine production network, while attempting to leave Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
The NDLEA also dismantled an industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in Ebonyi State as part of investigations into a network allegedly involving Mexican nationals and Nigerian collaborators operating clandestine laboratories across parts of the country.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), disclosed the development on Tuesday through the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, during a briefing in Lagos.
According to the agency, Loaiza was arrested on August 19, 2026, after investigators tracked him while he attempted to leave the country. The NDLEA said its investigation linked him to 56-year-old Mexican national Jose Villa Ochoa, who was arrested alongside four Nigerians at a suspected methamphetamine laboratory in Tapa village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State, on June 17.
The agency said Ochoa identified Loaiza as the person who recruited him and facilitated his arrival in Nigeria. Loaiza, however, reportedly denied involvement in methamphetamine production, claiming he had been invited by a Nigerian identified only as “Henry” for a restaurant business.
Investigators subsequently recovered photographs allegedly showing Loaiza wearing a blue laboratory coat and standing among equipment believed to be used for methamphetamine production. Location data from the photographs reportedly led investigators to a property under construction at Isiata Ugoni Okposi in Ebonyi State.
A search of the property and another location where equipment had allegedly been moved uncovered substantial quantities of chemicals and laboratory equipment. The NDLEA listed 442.8kg of acetone, 37.1kg of toluene, 20kg of an acetone/bromobenzene mixture, 31.5kg of hydrochloric acid, 200kg of P2B and other substances among the items recovered.
Operatives also recovered dehydrators, condensers, reaction equipment, pumps, weighing scales, mixers and other laboratory paraphernalia. One dehydrator reportedly contained loose methamphetamine, while a blue laboratory coat recovered at the site allegedly matched one seen in photographs and CCTV footage linked to Loaiza.
The NDLEA said the Ebonyi operation followed earlier arrests in Ogun and Oyo states as investigators worked to dismantle what it described as a transnational drug network seeking to establish clandestine methamphetamine production facilities in Nigeria.
Marwa warned that Nigeria would not be allowed to become a safe haven for international drug cartels seeking to relocate their operations into the country’s forests and rural communities. He said the agency would continue pursuing the network’s financiers and local collaborators.
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