The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has uncovered and dismantled another industrial-scale clandestine methamphetamine laboratory operated by a Nigerian-Mexican cartel deep in the forest of Tapa Village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area, Oyo State.
The operation comes barely four weeks after the Agency dismantled a similar lab in a forest in Ijebu East, Ogun State.Briefing journalists at NDLEA Headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, Director of Media and Advocacy Femi Babafemi, representing Agency Chairman Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), said tactical operatives stormed the fortified facility on June 17, arresting five key cartel members on-site.
Those arrested include 56-year-old Mexican methamphetamine expert Jose Villa Ochoa, said to have been brought in for his technical expertise in large-scale synthesis, along with four Nigerian collaborators: Maxwell Uche Nevoh, 30; Olatunji Yusuf, 37; Bankole Akeem Owolabi, 45; and Ganiu Monsiu, 43.
A forensic team from the Agency’s Directorate of Forensic and Chemical Monitoring conducted a detailed examination of the facility on June 18, uncovering what officials described as a factory-level production line stocked with precursor chemicals, industrial catalysts and heavy-duty processing equipment — including phenyl-2-propanone (P2P), phenylacetic acid, caustic soda, sulphuric acid, reactor pots, distillation units and industrial dehydrators.
Field tests confirmed samples of finished crystals as methamphetamine, while material from a 180-litre drum tested positive for phenylacetic acid. Officials said all exhibits have been evacuated, documented and preserved for evidential presentation in court.
