The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has raised concerns over a growing trend in which methamphetamine laboratories are being hidden deep inside forests across parts of Nigeria. According to the agency, international drug cartels are now collaborating with local criminal networks to establish large-scale illegal drug production sites disguised as farming operations.
Between January and May 2026, the NDLEA said it dismantled the largest clandestine methamphetamine laboratory ever discovered in the country, intercepted illicit drugs worth about ₦480 billion, secured 1,778 convictions, including 65 major drug traffickers, and arrested a total of 9,769 suspects.
Speaking during a joint briefing by spokespersons of security, defence and law enforcement agencies at the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC), NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi explained that one of the agency’s biggest operations took place at a remote forest in Abidagba, Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State.
He said officers uncovered an industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory where seven suspected cartel members were caught while producing the illicit drug. At the same time, another operation in Lakowe, Lekki, Lagos, led to the arrest of the alleged cartel leader, Anochili Innocent, along with three Mexican methamphetamine specialists reportedly brought into Nigeria for their expertise in chemical production.
In total, 10 suspected cartel members were arrested during the coordinated operations. Investigators recovered more than 2,400 kilograms of precursor chemicals, industrial solvents and finished methamphetamine with an estimated international market value of about $362.9 million, equivalent to roughly ₦480 billion, making it the highest-value single drug seizure recorded in Nigeria.
Babafemi also revealed that over 15 drug hotspots were dismantled in the Federal Capital Territory, leading to the arrest of 132 suspects. In Delta State, NDLEA operatives destroyed approximately 65,000 kilograms of cannabis cultivated on 26 hectares of forest farmland during operations carried out in May.
Beyond enforcement activities, the agency disclosed that it provided counselling, treatment and rehabilitation services to 6,533 individuals struggling with drug abuse between January and May 2026. It also conducted 2,252 public awareness campaigns under its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative, reaching about 770,000 people in schools, markets, worship centres, workplaces and motor parks nationwide.
The agency further announced the launch of its Alternative Development Pilot Project in January 2026, an initiative supported by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to help communities that rely on illegal crop cultivation transition to legitimate and sustainable sources of income.
Among the notable arrests recorded during the period were Lekan Jimoh, popularly known as “Kanmo-kanmo,” who was wanted over the killing of three NDLEA officers in Ogun State; a 30-year-old Brazilian woman intercepted at Abuja airport with 30.09 kilograms of heroin hidden inside sealed coffee packs; a convicted drug trafficker accused of coordinating an international drug distribution network from the Ikoyi Correctional Centre; and a former two-term Lagos local government councillor arrested with 40 kilograms of cannabis at his residence in Ijebu-Lekki.
