A 40-year-old Mexican national, Arturo Carrera Loaiza, has been arrested in Nigeria over alleged links to an international drug-trafficking network, according to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Loaiza was detained last month at Lagos International Airport while attempting to leave the country.
Authorities said digital photographs found on his device showed him in what appeared to be a laboratory coat, alongside items believed to be associated with the manufacture of methamphetamine.
Investigators reportedly traced location information from the images to a property in Ebonyi State, where they discovered chemicals and machinery suspected to have been used for producing the synthetic drug.
The NDLEA said a CCTV memory card recovered from the premises contained footage of a man resembling Loaiza wearing a blue laboratory coat.
A Nigerian national was also seen allegedly supervising the removal of chemicals and equipment from the facility.
According to NDLEA Chairman, Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, additional intelligence directed investigators to a secluded building in a nearby community.
Officers there allegedly seized dehydrators, condensers, reaction vessels, weighing machines, mixers, drums, gas burners and other materials. A sieve containing traces of methamphetamine was also reportedly recovered.
Authorities have not disclosed the potential production capacity of the suspected facility.
Loaiza has denied participating in methamphetamine manufacturing. He reportedly told investigators that he travelled to Nigeria after being invited by a Nigerian associate to pursue a restaurant business opportunity.
The NDLEA further alleged that Loaiza recruited another Mexican national to work at a separate suspected methamphetamine facility concealed within a forest in Oyo State.
That operation was raided in June, resulting in the arrest of the Mexican worker and four Nigerians.
In a separate operation the previous month, three Mexican citizens and seven Nigerians were apprehended at another facility described by authorities as an industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory located in a forest.
Gen. Marwa said the discoveries indicated that foreign criminal organisations were seeking to establish clandestine drug-manufacturing operations in Nigeria’s remote areas.
He said Nigeria would not be permitted to become a base for international drug cartels attempting to move their production centres into the country’s forests and rural settlements.
The agency said inquiries are continuing, including efforts to identify individuals suspected of providing financial support or logistical assistance to the operations.
Unlike cocaine and heroin, which originate from specific plant sources, methamphetamine is a synthetic substance that can be manufactured wherever the necessary chemical ingredients, technical knowledge and equipment are available.
Authorities say West Africa’s extensive forests and isolated rural locations could provide concealment for criminal groups seeking to establish secret production sites.
By: Magdalene Agyeiwaa Sarpong