Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 40-year-old Mexican national, Arturo Carrera Loaiza, who it alleges is a senior figure in an international drug network.
Loaiza was arrested last month at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos while attempting to leave Nigeria, according to the NDLEA.
The agency said the arrest led investigators to a suspected industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in Ebonyi State, where they allegedly recovered chemicals and equipment believed to be used in the production of the illicit drug.
Investigators reportedly found digital images of Loaiza wearing what appeared to be a laboratory coat alongside equipment associated with methamphetamine production. Location data from the images allegedly helped officers identify the property in Ebonyi.
The NDLEA also said a CCTV memory card recovered from the site contained footage of a person resembling Loaiza wearing a blue laboratory coat. A Nigerian man was also allegedly seen directing the movement of chemicals and equipment.
According to NDLEA Chairman, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), further intelligence led officers to another property in a neighbouring community, where they recovered chemicals, dehydrators, condensers, a reaction pot, weighing scales, mixers, drums, gas burners and a sieve containing traces of methamphetamine.
Loaiza has denied any involvement in methamphetamine production. The NDLEA said he claimed he had travelled to Nigeria after being invited by a local contact to participate in a restaurant business venture.
The agency further alleged that Loaiza recruited another Mexican national to work at a suspected methamphetamine laboratory hidden in a forest in Oyo State. That facility was raided in June, leading to the arrest of four Nigerians.
The latest operation follows another NDLEA raid a month earlier, during which three Mexican nationals and seven Nigerians were arrested at what the agency described as an industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory located in a forest.
Marwa said the operations indicated that international criminal groups were attempting to establish drug-production facilities in Nigeria’s forests and rural communities.
The NDLEA said investigations are continuing, including efforts to identify individuals who allegedly financed or facilitated the establishment of the laboratories.
Authorities have not disclosed how much methamphetamine the Ebonyi laboratory was allegedly capable of producing.
Tags
World News