The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has raised the alarm over attempts by international drug cartels to establish production bases in Nigeria, revealing that Mexican-linked criminal networks are involved in setting up industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratories in forests across Ogun and Oyo states.

The agency’s Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this yesterday during an interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu.

Babafemi said the development underscored the increasingly international nature of drug trafficking, adding that NDLEA operatives were taking the fight directly to criminal networks rather than waiting for illicit substances to be moved through airports, seaports and highways.

He said recent operations had uncovered methamphetamine production activities in forests in Ogun and Oyo states, while another operation in Ebonyi State had led to arrests.

“We’ve seen recently the collaboration between the Nigerian-Mexican cartels trying to have methamphetamine laboratories in the forests of Ogun and Oyo State and just a few days we had one again in Ebonyi State,” he said.

According to him, the suspects arrested in the Ebonyi operation would be paraded publicly after the completion of necessary protocols.

Babafemi said foreign criminal organisations were seeking footholds in Nigeria because drug trafficking was a global enterprise, stressing that the NDLEA was strengthening intelligence-sharing arrangements with law enforcement agencies in other countries.

“They are trying to come in through whatever means they have to establish footholds, because it’s a global phenomenon, it’s a global challenge”.

The NDLEA spokesman said enforcement had also forced traffickers to explore alternative routes, including neighbouring countries, to move drugs into Nigeria.

He cited the dismantling of a cartel operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor, which he said had for years contributed to the flow of opioids into the country.

Babafemi also disclosed that the agency was expanding its operations into cyberspace, with officers monitoring social media platforms, the dark web and cryptocurrency networks used by drug traffickers.

He said financial investigations, asset tracing and recovery were increasingly central to the agency’s strategy, stressing that the objective was to dismantle the financial structures supporting drug cartels.

The official said the NDLEA was equally concerned about the online glamorisation of illicit drug use by social media influencers.

He disclosed that the agency was working with the Actors Guild of Nigeria and the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria to discourage such messaging.

Babafemi described drug cartels as “merchants of death”, warning that their activities posed a serious threat to society.

He said the agency’s concerns now extended beyond cannabis, cocaine and tramadol to synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine and Captagon.

According to him, the methamphetamine laboratory uncovered in Ogun State had the potential to produce drugs worth almost N500 billion.

Babafemi said the NDLEA was also implementing an Alternative Development Programme in selected communities in Ondo State to encourage cannabis farmers to embrace legitimate livelihoods, including poultry, fishing and the cultivation of food and cash crops.

He added that the agency’s Marine Command had intercepted cocaine, methamphetamine and cannabis on the high seas in Akwa Ibom State, with the consignment allegedly destined for Cameroon.

Babafemi said the NDLEA was strengthening the protection of its personnel through specialised training, weapons, protective equipment, night-vision devices and bulletproof operational vehicles.

He said the agency had, for the first time, inducted modern AK-47 rifles into its armoury and was providing residential accommodation for personnel and their families in locations including Yola, Lagos, Abuja and Enugu.

“We’re winning, as much as they want to continue to push this, we’re ensuring that they don’t have that space, the ungoverned space that they used to enjoy before now,” he said.