Nigerian authorities have arrested an alleged Mexican drug kingpin, Arturo Carrera Loaiza, 40, as he attempted to depart the country from Lagos international airport. The arrest led to the discovery of a suspected industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory, marking the third such find linked to Mexican nationals in four months, according to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Upon Loaiza's detention, officials reported finding digital images that they believe show him in a laboratory coat alongside equipment consistent with methamphetamine production. Location data from these images directed officers to a property in Ebonyi state, where chemicals and drug-making equipment were allegedly discovered.
Loaiza has denied any involvement in methamphetamine production, stating he was invited to Nigeria for a restaurant business venture by a local contact, the NDLEA said in a statement. Investigators found a CCTV memory card at the suspected laboratory in Ebonyi, which reportedly contained footage of an individual resembling Loaiza wearing a blue laboratory coat and directing others to remove chemicals and equipment. A Nigerian man was also identified in the footage.
Further intelligence led officers to an isolated house in a neighboring community, where the NDLEA recovered chemicals, dehydrators, condensers, a reaction pot, weighing scales, mixers, drums, gas burners, and a sieve with traces of methamphetamine. The potential production capacity of this alleged laboratory has not yet been estimated.
This incident follows previous discoveries of suspected drug labs. In June, investigators alleged that Loaiza had recruited a fellow Mexican to work at another suspected methamphetamine laboratory hidden in a forest in Oyo state, where four Nigerians were arrested. The month prior, NDLEA officers arrested three Mexican nationals and seven Nigerians at an alleged industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory in a forest in another part of the country.
NDLEA chairman Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa stated that these operations indicate that international criminal groups are attempting to establish drug-production facilities in Nigeria's forests and rural areas. He asserted that Nigeria would not become a haven for transnational drug cartels relocating their laboratories. The NDLEA's investigation into the network, including financiers and facilitators, is ongoing. The agency noted that synthetic drugs like methamphetamine can be produced anywhere with the necessary chemicals and expertise, allowing organized crime groups to scale up production quickly. West Africa offers advantages to these syndicates, including remote forested areas suitable for clandestine production sites.