US HAILS NDLEA OVER MEXICAN METH LAB BUSTS, MARWA SEEKS MORE SUPPORT

US HAILS NDLEA OVER MEXICAN METH LAB BUSTS, MARWA SEEKS MORE SUPPORT

The United States has commended the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for dismantling four methamphetamine laboratories linked to Mexican drug cartels in Nigeria, as Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), called for sustained or increased American support.

The commendation came on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, during a visit to the NDLEA headquarters in Abuja by Michael Gonzales, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) for Africa and the Middle East. Gonzales, who assumed office four months ago, said he chose Nigeria as his first destination because of its continental influence and the agency’s impressive operational successes.

He described the laboratory busts as evidence of effective intelligence gathering, inter-agency cooperation and cross-border coordination. He also warned that pressure on drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere was pushing trafficking networks towards alternative routes through Africa, making international cooperation critical to disrupting the trade and its financial networks.

Marwa said the operations had exposed attempts by Mexican cartels to establish Nigeria as a manufacturing and trafficking hub for methamphetamine. He disclosed that NDLEA operatives dismantled what he described as the country’s largest clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in Ijebu East, Ogun State, arresting three Mexican meth experts and their Nigerian collaborators and recovering illicit substances worth more than $360 million.

Four weeks later, the agency raided another industrial-scale laboratory in Tapa Village, Oyo State, arresting a Mexican methamphetamine expert and four Nigerian collaborators. Similar facilities were subsequently dismantled in Enugu and Ebonyi states.

The NDLEA chairman warned that the laboratories were intended to supply international markets through West Africa, adding that drug trafficking proceeds also fuel illicit arms proliferation and terrorism across the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin.

Marwa said INL assistance had strengthened the agency’s forensic analysis, professional training, financial-crime investigations and equipment maintenance. He attributed to the partnership the arrest of 96,157 drug offenders, including 250 drug barons; seizure of more than 15.8 million kilogrammes of illicit drugs; and conviction of 16,691 traffickers over the past five years.

Warning that any withdrawal of US assistance could create gaps exploited by criminal networks, Marwa urged Gonzales to convey to Washington the need to maintain, if not increase, INL support. He stressed that governments must match the cross-border cooperation of drug cartels and terrorist networks with sustained intelligence sharing and joint operations.