By James Ogunnaike
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has raised the alarm over attempts by international drug cartels to establish production bases in Nigeria, disclosing that Mexican-linked criminal networks are behind efforts to set up industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratories in forests across Ogun and Oyo states.
The agency also revealed that it had recently dismantled a drug cartel operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor and intercepted consignments of cocaine, methamphetamine and cannabis on the high seas in Akwa Ibom State.
The Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this during an interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu.
Babafemi said the agency had uncovered attempts by foreign criminal organisations to penetrate Nigeria’s illicit drug market, adding that NDLEA operatives were taking the battle directly to the cartels rather than waiting for drugs to be trafficked through airports, seaports and highways.
He said recent operations had uncovered clandestine activities in forests in Ogun and Oyo states, while another operation in the South-East had resulted in 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. Just a few days ago, we had one again in Ebonyi State, and those behind that have been rounded up,” he said.
Babafemi said the agency would make further details of the Ebonyi operation public after the necessary protocols had been completed.
According to him, the development underscored the increasingly international character of drug trafficking and the determination of foreign cartels to establish production networks in Nigeria.
“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. So, they are all networked, and that’s why we also, as law enforcement, network with our counterparts,” he said.
The NDLEA spokesman said the agency was strengthening collaboration with other security agencies in Nigeria, stressing that the war against illicit drugs could not be won by a single organisation.
He said the agency’s strategy had shifted beyond drug seizures and arrests to intelligence gathering, dismantling trafficking networks and attacking their financial structures.
“We’re mopping up all of those floods of illicit substances across our communities and our streets, but beyond that, we’re taking this to them, right wherever they may be trying to do this,” Babafemi said.
“We are dismantling all their structures and disabling their capacity and capability, whether in terms of their financial backbone, or their instrumentalities.”
He said increased enforcement at Nigeria’s airports and seaports had forced international traffickers to devise alternative routes, including moving illicit substances through neighbouring countries before bringing them into Nigeria.
“These people already know that it’s difficult for them to come into Nigeria through airports or seaports, so we’ve also seen the trend that they would take some of these illicit substances to some neighbouring countries from where they want to come into Nigeria,” he said.
Babafemi cited the recent dismantling of a cartel operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor, describing the route as one that had, for years, contributed to the opioid abuse crisis among Nigerian youths.
The agency’s spokesman also disclosed that the NDLEA was expanding its capacity to track drug trafficking activities in cyberspace, including on social media platforms and the dark web.
He said several arrests had resulted from intelligence gathered through social media, adding that the agency was also monitoring cryptocurrency networks and dark-web marketplaces.
“We are a modern front-line agency. Quite a number of our arrests have emanated from social media, that I can tell you for free,” Babafemi said.
He said NDLEA personnel were undergoing advanced training in financial investigation, asset tracing and recovery of proceeds from narcotics trafficking and related organised crime.
Babafemi also warned social media influencers against glorifying illicit drug use, saying the agency had taken action against some influencers whose activities promoted substance abuse.
“We’ve seen deep glorification of the glamorisation of illicit substances, especially by social media influencers, and that’s why a number of them had also been taken down,” he said.
He disclosed that the agency was working with the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, and other stakeholders in the entertainment industry to discourage the promotion of illicit substances.
“We have deployed what we call the stick and the carrot approach to address this,” he said.
“Those that we see out of the line, we deploy the stick approach, we get them, and then the other approach is the carrot, trying to get some of these people, work with them as individuals, work with them as groups, to ensure that they have a rethink.”
Babafemi described international drug cartels as highly organised and dangerous criminal enterprises capable of inflicting serious damage on society.
“Drug cartels anywhere in the world are very deadly. In fact, nobody would do that kind of business and would not be deadly because you know what you are doing is not adding any value to human life,” he said.
“Instead, we call them merchants of death, meaning that there is nothing good coming out of them in their business. We do appreciate the fact that indeed we are confronting monsters and dangerous criminals.”
The NDLEA spokesman said the agency’s concerns now extended beyond cannabis, cocaine and tramadol to synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine and Captagon.
He explained that cocaine was not produced in Nigeria, but was trafficked from South America through Africa to Europe and other destinations.
“We do know that cocaine is not produced in Nigeria. They come from South America and then come through Africa. Then, from here, they move to Europe,” he said.
Babafemi said the high international value of narcotics was one of the major factors driving transnational criminal organisations.
“For instance, a kg of meth or cocaine in some parts of the world sells for as much as $500,000 a kg,” he said.
He added that the methamphetamine laboratory discovered in the Ogun forest had the capacity to produce drugs estimated to be worth almost half a trillion naira.
“So, that’s why you see, what was to come out of the meth lab in the Ogun Forest was almost half a trillion Naira in value,” he said.
Babafemi also disclosed that the NDLEA had introduced an Alternative Development Programme aimed at persuading cannabis farmers to abandon illicit cultivation for legitimate livelihoods.
He said the pilot programme was launched in three communities in Ondo State; Ifon, Ilu-Abo and Eleyewo where cannabis growers were encouraged to embrace poultry farming, fishing and other sustainable economic activities.
“The whole essence of that programme was to help these areas where predominantly cannabis was being cultivated, and the agency had engagements with the cannabis growers,” he said.
According to him, the programme was designed to provide farmers with viable alternatives to cannabis cultivation while reducing their exposure to law enforcement operations.
“As I speak with you, our Alternative Development Project team have been in Ondo State to follow up with the second phase of that project, and the outcomes have been very tremendous,” he said.
The agency’s spokesman said the international nature of drug trafficking had made cooperation with law enforcement agencies in other countries essential.
He disclosed that the NDLEA Marine Command was monitoring Nigeria’s waterways and had trained personnel in countries including the United Kingdom, United States and Brazil.
“We do have a full command, a marine command, that are well-trained officers, personnel all over the world. They’ve been trained in the UK, trained in the US, trained in Brazil, all over the world,” Babafemi said.
He said the personnel had been involved in drug seizures aboard ships, at ports and on the high seas.
“Just last week, there were consignments of cocaine, meth, and cannabis that were seized on the high sea in Akwa Ibom State. That consignment was being taken to the Republic of Cameroon,” he disclosed.
Babafemi further disclosed that the agency was strengthening the security of its personnel through specialised training, new equipment and improved welfare measures.
He said NDLEA officers had received life and injury insurance and undergone specialised training, while the agency had acquired arms and ammunition, protective equipment, night-vision devices and bulletproof operational vehicles.
He also said modern AK-47 rifles had been introduced into the NDLEA armoury for the first time in its history.
“I also can tell you that all our personnel have been going through a lot of elite training across the world to equip them with the right skills to defend themselves,” he said.
“We call it induction, especially for the first time in the history of the agency, modern AK-47 rifles have been introduced or inducted into the armoury of the agency. That’s to further fortify our personnel and our offices against these criminal elements.”
The spokesman said the agency was also providing residential accommodation for personnel in strategic locations to protect officers and their families from possible retaliation by drug traffickers.
“For the first time in the history of the agency, we are having barracks in parts of the country, so that our officers can stay in a secure environment with their family without the fear of going back to the midst of the same community where they have gone to arrest drug traffickers or drug dealers,” he said.
Babafemi said residential facilities were already available in Yola, Adamawa State, while projects were also ongoing in Lagos, Abuja and Enugu.
He said the measures were part of efforts to ensure that NDLEA personnel could carry out operations without exposing themselves and their families to unnecessary risks.
Babafemi said the agency remained determined to prevent criminal organisations from exploiting forests, waterways, digital platforms and international trafficking corridors as ungoverned spaces for drug production and distribution.
“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. That’s no longer the case,” he said.
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