By JKNewsMedia
A FORTIFIED industrial scale clandestine methamphetamine laboratory operated by a Nigerian Mexican cartel has been uncovered and dismantled in the forest of Tapa Village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State, with five suspects arrested during the operation, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has said.
JKNewsMedia.com that the agency said the discovery came less than four weeks after it dismantled another methamphetamine laboratory in a forest in Ijebu East, Ogun State.
Speaking at the NDLEA Headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), represented by the Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, commended the officers involved in the operation.
Marwa said tactical operatives of the agency stormed the facility on 17 June 2026 and arrested five members of the cartel at the site.
According to him, those arrested included 56-year-old Mexican methamphetamine expert Jose Villa Ochoa, whom he described as having been brought in to provide technical expertise for large scale synthesis, and four Nigerians identified as Maxwell Uche Nevoh, 30; Olatunji Yusuf, 37; Bankole Akeem Owolabi, 45; and Ganiu Monsiu, 43.
He said a specialised team from the Directorate of Forensic and Chemical Monitoring conducted a forensic examination of the facility on 18 June 2026 following the raid.
Marwa stated that chemicals and materials recovered from the laboratory included Phenyl 2 propanone, 1,800 litre drums containing Phenylacetic acid, two 180 litre drums containing 300 litres of whitish crystalline substance, four 180 litre drums containing dark liquid undergoing synthesis, 101 bags of caustic soda weighing 25kg each, 17 containers of sulphuric acid of 25 litres each, 19.5 containers of tartaric acid weighing 25kg each, five containers of Reniso Ultracool 68, 25 bottles of 80 percent thioglycolic acid, two containers of ethyl phenylacetate and 25 cartons of aluminium foil.
He added that equipment recovered from the site included one reactor pot, two mounted distillation units, three fabricated mixers and condensers, and two vegetable dehydrator machines.
Marwa said immediate field tests conducted by forensic experts confirmed that samples of the finished crystals tested positive for methamphetamine, while the crystalline substance recovered from one of the drums tested positive for Phenylacetic acid.
He said all exhibits recovered from the laboratory had been evacuated, documented and preserved for evidential presentation in court.
“The laboratory was fully stocked with a frightening array of precursor chemicals, industrial catalysts, and heavy-duty processing equipment,” he said.
Marwa said the proximity of the Oyo laboratory to the one previously uncovered in Ogun State revealed what he described as an attempt by drug barons to establish a synthetic drug manufacturing hub in the South West.
“Let the message go out clearly to all drug cartels, domestic and international that Nigeria is not, and will never be, a safe haven for your illicit trade. We will find you in the cities, we will track you into the forests, and we will dismantle your infrastructure of death. They thought hiding in dense forests would shield them from the long arm of the law. They were wrong,” he said.
He also commended officers of the Oyo State Command involved in the operation and thanked members of the public for providing information to the agency.
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