Nigeria’s anti-drug agency has dismantled what authorities described as the country’s largest methamphetamine operation ever uncovered, seizing drugs and chemicals worth an estimated US$363 million (approximately RM1.7 billion).
The massive crackdown also led to the arrest of 10 suspects, including three Mexican nationals believed to be expert methamphetamine “cooks”.
According to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, coordinated raids carried out across Ogun and Lagos states uncovered an industrial-scale illegal drug laboratory hidden deep inside the Abidagba forest in southwestern Nigeria.
Authorities said the operation, which lasted 48 hours following months of intelligence gathering, resulted in the seizure of around 2.4 tonnes of methamphetamine along with large quantities of chemical materials used in drug production.
NDLEA chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa said the syndicate relied heavily on foreign technical expertise to manufacture drugs locally.
Seven suspects, including the three Mexican nationals, were arrested during the raid at the forest laboratory site.
Investigators later detained the alleged mastermind, identified as Nigerian national Anochili Innocent, at his residence in Lagos. Additional follow-up operations brought the total number of arrests to 10.
Authorities believe the scale of the operation signals a worrying shift in global drug trafficking patterns, with international cartels increasingly using Nigeria as a production base instead of merely a transit route.
The agency warned that porous borders across West Africa have allowed organised crime groups to strengthen logistics networks and establish closer ties with Latin American drug trafficking syndicates.
Officials said the quantity of drugs seized could have produced millions of street-level doses, raising serious concerns about the expansion of large-scale meth production operations within the region.
The crackdown has also highlighted Nigeria’s growing role in the global illegal drug trade, both as a transit hub and now increasingly as a manufacturing centre.
Marwa said Nigerian authorities would intensify efforts to dismantle both local and international drug networks operating across the country.
