The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Wednesday announced the dismantling of what it described as the largest clandestine methamphetamine production facility ever uncovered in Nigeria, a multi-billion-naira operation in Ogun State run by the Anochili Innocent Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO).
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The agency’s chairman/CEO, Brig-Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa, said operatives uncovered the hidden laboratory in a forested area in Ijebu Ode (Abidagba forest, Ijebu East LGA) and arrested nine suspects including the cartel’s mastermind and three foreign technical experts.
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Arrested suspects
Marwa identified the Nigerian suspects linked to the factory, including:
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Anochili Innocent – alleged mastermind of the syndicate
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Nwankwo Sunday Christian
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Igwe Abuchi Remijus
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Ifeanyichukwu Chibuike Joshua
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Egwuonwu Uchenna Victor
Three Mexican nationals were also arrested, identified as technical experts allegedly brought into Nigeria to manufacture the drug:
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Martinez Felix Nemecto
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Jesus López Valles
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Torrero Juan Carlos
The operation was carried out by the NDLEA’s Special Operations Unit, and the agency described the seizure as the largest multibillion-naira methamphetamine discovery in Nigeria’s history.
The three Mexican meth experts working for them as advisers in the factor who were also arrested were identified as Martinez Felix Nemecto, Jesus López Valles and Torrero Juan Carlos.
According to the NDLEA boss, the well-coordinated operation that led to the arrest of the suspects and uncovering of the factory was executed by elite operatives of the Agency’s Special Operations Unit (SOU) across Ogun and Lagos States within 48 hours last week following months of painstaking and credible intelligence gathering.City & Local Guides
“Through a clinical, simultaneous operation executed by the elite operatives of our Special Operations Unit (SOU), we have successfully dismantled a sophisticated, transnational methamphetamine production syndicate run jointly by a Nigerian drug cartel and their Mexican counterparts.
This network did not just traffic drugs; they were actively manufacturing industrial-scale quantities of highly lethal illicit substances right on our soil, threatening the national security and public health of Nigeria.Insecurity Solutions Forum
Marwa said the operation to take out the network began on Saturday, 16th May 2026, when NDLEA operatives launched a well-coordinated, simultaneous strikes in both Ogun and Lagos States.
The primary target of the operation was a remote farm located at Abidagba forest, in Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State, which was being used as a massive, highly dangerous clandestine methamphetamine laboratory by the Anochili Innocent Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO).
Marwa added that another NDLEA’s tactical team closed in on the mastermind’s luxury fortress at No. 8 Tafawa Balewa Street, Golf Estate, Lakowe, Lekki area of Lagos state, the residence of the drug baron, Anochili Innocent.
“At the farm in the Ijebu forest, our operatives overran the clandestine laboratory in Ogun State, securing the perimeter and catching the syndicates completely off-guard. At this laboratory, we apprehended seven (7) key members of the cartel processing illicit substances.
“Most notably, the operation confirms our intelligence regarding the importation of foreign technical expertise by local cartels. Among those arrested are three (3) Mexican nationals brought into the country specifically to cook this deadly substance, alongside four (4) Nigerian collaborators.
“The suspects arrested in the forest lab are: Nwankwo Sunday Christian, 41; Igwe Abuchi Remijus, 42; Ifeanyichukwu Chibuike Joshua, 23; and Egwuonwu Uchenna Victor, 38; as well as the three Mexican meth experts: Martinez Felix Nemecto, 46; Jesus López Valles, 40; and Torrero Juan Carlos, 51” the NDLEA boss said
The NDLEA boss said the dismantling of the Anochili Innocent DTO, coming directly on the heels of the Simon Amadi cartel takedown, sends an unequivocal, resounding message to drug barons both locally and internationally that Nigeria is a hostile territory for their business, warning that the Agency will continue to hunt them down wherever they are located.
“We are fully aware of the shifting tactics of these cartels, including the disturbing trend of hiring South American cartel specialists to set up production factories in our rural communities. Let it be known that no matter how deep into the bush you hide, no matter how secure your gated estate is, the NDLEA will hunt you down, disrupt your networks, and seize your ill-gotten wealth” Marwa warned
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