The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dismantled another industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in Ebonyi State and arrested a Mexican national identified as Arturo Carrera Loaiza, whom the agency described as a suspected kingpin in a transnational drug network.
Loaiza was arrested on August 19 while attempting to leave Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, following months of investigation into clandestine methamphetamine laboratories uncovered in Ogun, Oyo and Ebonyi states.
The investigation followed the arrest of Mexican nationals and their Nigerian collaborators at drug laboratories in Ogun and Oyo. NDLEA said a Mexican methamphetamine expert arrested in Oyo identified Loaiza as the person who recruited him and brought him into Nigeria.
According to the agency, Loaiza denied involvement in methamphetamine production during interrogation and claimed he was invited to Nigeria by a Nigerian contact known as “Henry” under the guise of a restaurant business. However, investigators reportedly recovered images of him wearing a laboratory coat and standing among equipment consistent with methamphetamine production.
NDLEA said the latest operation has exposed a wider international network allegedly seeking to establish methamphetamine production facilities in Nigeria, with investigations continuing to identify other individuals involved in the network.
Daily Times
