Get Guardian on GoogleThe Federal High Court in Ibadan, Oyo State, has remanded two Mexican nationals and four Nigerians at the correctional centre pending trial over their alleged involvement in the establishment and operation of a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in Tapa village, Ibarapa North Local Council the state.
Justice Nkeonye Evelyn Maha ordered their remand after they pleaded not guilty to a four-count charge filed against them by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The defendants are 56-year-old Jose Villa Ochoa and 40-year-old Carrera Loaiza Arturo, both Mexican nationals, alongside four Nigerians identified as Maxwell Uche Nevoh, 30; Olatunji Yusuf, 37; Bankole Akeem Owolabi, 45; and Ganiu Monsiu, 43.
According to the NDLEA, Villa Ochoa and the four Nigerians were arrested on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, by operatives of the agency in a forested area of Tapa village, while Arturo was arrested on August 19, 2026, as he allegedly attempted to flee the country through the Lagos airport.
The four-count charge accused the defendants of conspiring to operate a drug trafficking organisation and establishing a clandestine laboratory for the production of methamphetamine, a psychotropic substance, between December 2025 and June 2026 at different locations in Lagos and Oyo states.
They were also accused of unlawfully transporting and distributing chemical substances for the production of methamphetamine, contrary to Section 20(1)(f) and punishable under Section 20(2)(a) of the NDLEA Act.
After the charges were read to them in a language they understood, all six defendants pleaded not guilty.
Justice Maha subsequently ordered that they be remanded at the Correctional Centre in Ibadan and adjourned the case until January 26, 27, 28 and 29, 2027, for trial.
In a related development, three other Mexican nationals and seven Nigerian collaborators arrested over the establishment of a similar clandestine drug laboratory in a forest hideout in Ogun State on May 16, 2026, have also been remanded.
The 10 defendants were earlier arraigned before a Federal High Court in Lagos, where the trial judge rejected their bail application and ordered an accelerated hearing of the case.
The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued from the agency’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday, November 6, 2026.
