*Marwa seeks more Support

The United States has commended the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for dismantling four methamphetamine laboratories allegedly linked to Mexican drug cartels in Nigeria, as the agency’s chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (retd.), called for sustained or increased American support to combat transnational drug trafficking.

The commendation came yesterday during a visit to the NDLEA headquarters in Abuja by the United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) for Africa and the Middle East, Michael Gonzales.

Gonzales, who assumed office four months ago, said Nigeria was the obvious choice for his first official visit because of its economic importance in Africa, the NDLEA’s leadership and the agency’s operational successes.

He said he wanted to see “firsthand where the magic happens”, citing the strong partnership between the INL and the NDLEA.

According to him, the four methamphetamine laboratory busts recorded this year demonstrated the agency’s capacity for intelligence-led investigations, inter-agency and cross-border coordination, effective operations, and thorough investigations and prosecutions.

Gonzales said the illicit drug trade had become an international threat that affected communities across national boundaries, adding that counter-narcotics operations directly benefited both Nigerians and Americans.

He noted that narcotics remained one of the foreign policy issues with the most direct consequences for American families and communities.

The US official said more than four decades of INL partnerships with countries worldwide had involved training and equipment support. He also warned that intensified pressure on drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere could redirect trafficking routes towards Africa, Europe and Oceania.

He called for sustained efforts against transnational criminal organisations, stressing the need to target not only drug shipments but also the financial networks that sustain them.

Responding, Marwa described the partnership between the NDLEA, the INL and the US Drug Enforcement Administration as a shared investment in the security of both countries.

He said the recent discovery of four clandestine methamphetamine laboratories linked to Mexican cartels showed that criminal networks were attempting to turn Nigeria into a manufacturing and distribution hub.

Marwa said NDLEA operatives had dismantled what he described as Nigeria’s largest clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in a forest in Ijebu East, Ogun State, where three Mexican methamphetamine experts and their Nigerian collaborators were arrested.

He said illicit substances valued at more than $360 million were 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, he added.

The chairman said similar facilities had subsequently been dismantled in Enugu and Ebonyi states, with the operations linked to Mexican drug cartels.

According to him, the discoveries pointed to a deliberate attempt by the cartels to establish production facilities in Nigeria and use West Africa as a corridor for shipping methamphetamine to international markets.

Marwa argued that the operations also had implications for American security, suggesting that pressure on cartel trafficking routes into the United States could push the groups to seek alternative routes.

“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,” he said.

He added that the NDLEA’s forensic experts, investigators and tactical teams were helping to protect communities in the United States by disrupting drug production and trafficking networks in Nigeria.

Marwa also warned that drug trafficking, arms smuggling and terrorism were increasingly interconnected, arguing that proceeds from the drug trade could finance weapons purchases and sustain armed groups.

“Crime has no borders, and neither does the threat,” he said, adding that security challenges in the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin could have consequences beyond the region.
He said American assistance had strengthened the NDLEA’s capacity in forensic and chemical analysis, professional training, financial-crime investigations and equipment maintenance.

Marwa disclosed that, over the past five years, the agency had arrested 96,157 drug offenders, including 250 alleged drug barons, seized more than 15.8 million kilogrammes of assorted illicit drugs and secured 16,691 convictions for drug trafficking.

Warning that any reduction in INL assistance could create gaps that criminal networks and terrorist groups might exploit, he urged Gonzales to convey the agency’s position to Washington.

“Our appeal is that INL support, as is, should be maintained, if not increased,” Marwa said.
He stressed that drug traffickers, arms dealers and terrorist groups worked across national boundaries and that governments must strengthen cooperation to disrupt their operations.