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 its chairman, Mohamed Buba Marwa, called for sustained or increased American 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 its chairman, Mohamed Buba Marwa, called for sustained or increased American support.
The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) for Africa and the Middle East, Michael Gonzales, gave the commendation during a visit to the NDLEA headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.
Gonzales, who assumed office four months ago, said Nigeria was his first choice for an official visit because of its leadership position in Africa and the NDLEA’s operational successes.
“When I was thinking where does it make the most sense to visit first, Nigeria was a clear answer,” he said.
He praised the agency’s intelligence-led operations, inter-agency cooperation and prosecution of drug offenders, citing the four methamphetamine laboratory discoveries recorded this year as evidence of its effectiveness.
“The four meth lab busts just this year alone is a testament to the deployment of some of the best practices in our tradecraft,” Gonzales said.
He added that the international drug trade required coordinated action across national borders, noting that narcotics trafficking had a direct impact on communities in both Nigeria and the United States.
According to him, the US-Nigeria partnership was critical to disrupting criminal networks and preventing illicit drugs from reaching vulnerable populations.
Gonzales said more than four decades of US cooperation with countries worldwide had included training and equipment support. He also warned that pressure on drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere could redirect trafficking routes towards Africa, Europe and other regions.
He called for sustained efforts against transnational criminal organisations, including investigations into the financial networks that sustain their operations.
Responding, Marwa said the partnership with the US government, through INL and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), was a shared investment in the security of both countries.
He disclosed that NDLEA operatives had dismantled four industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratories linked to Mexican cartels in Ogun, Oyo, Enugu and Ebonyi states.
The largest, according to him, was discovered in a forest in Ijebu East, Ogun State, where three Mexican methamphetamine experts and their Nigerian collaborators were arrested. Illicit substances valued at more than $360 million were also recovered.
Barely 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.
Marwa said the discoveries indicated an attempt by international drug cartels to establish Nigeria as a manufacturing and export hub for methamphetamine.
“These were not isolated incidents. They show a deliberate attempt to turn Nigeria into a manufacturing hub,” he said.
He argued that the facilities were intended to supply international markets rather than Nigerian consumers alone, with West Africa potentially serving as a corridor for trafficking drugs to Europe, Asia and the United States.
“Every meth-producing laboratory that we shut down is a supply line that never reaches an American street, and every cartel operative we arrest is one fewer in the pipeline,” Marwa said.
The NDLEA chairman also warned about the growing convergence of drug trafficking, illegal arms and terrorism financing, particularly across the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin.
“Drug money buys guns, guns sustain armed groups, and armed groups sustain terrorism,” he said, stressing that criminal networks operated across borders and required a coordinated international response.
Marwa said American assistance had strengthened the agency’s capacity in forensic and chemical analysis, professional training, financial-crime investigations and equipment maintenance.
He disclosed that the NDLEA had arrested 96,157 drug offenders, including 250 major traffickers, seized more than 15.8 million kilogrammes of illicit drugs and secured 16,691 convictions in the last five years.
Warning that any reduction in US assistance could create opportunities for criminal and terrorist networks, Marwa urged Gonzales to convey to Washington the need to sustain or increase its support.
“Our appeal is that INL support, as is, should be maintained if not increased,” he said.
He added that governments must match the cross-border cooperation of drug traffickers, arms dealers and terrorist groups with stronger intelligence-sharing and joint enforcement operations.