Fresh operations by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have uncovered attempts by international drug cartels to establish methamphetamine production bases in Nigeria.
NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said Mexican-linked criminal networks were behind efforts to set up industrial-scale laboratories in forests across Ogun and Oyo states.
He disclosed that another operation in Ebonyi State also led to arrests, as the agency intensifies efforts to dismantle drug networks within the country.
Babafemi said traffickers were increasingly turning to alternative routes, cyberspace, the dark web and cryptocurrency networks to move drugs and finance their activities.
He said a methamphetamine laboratory discovered in Ogun had the capacity to produce drugs worth nearly 500 billion naira.
The NDLEA spokesman also disclosed that cocaine, methamphetamine and cannabis had been intercepted on the high seas in Akwa Ibom, with the consignment allegedly bound for Cameroon.
He said the agency was strengthening intelligence gathering, personnel protection and international cooperation to disrupt drug trafficking networks.
