Mexican meth cooks caught ‘running international drug cartel inside African forest’

Police in Nigeria raided a hidden jungle laboratory, seizing 2.4 tonnes of drugs worth around £270 million and arresting seven people, including three Mexican nationals

A gang of Mexicans were discovered allegedly operating a meth empire out of a forest in Nigeria following a police raid.

Cops swarmed after discovering the site tucked away in Abidagba forest in Ogu and arrested three Mexican cooks and four Nigerian citizens as well as seizing 2.4 tonnes of drugs worth around £270 million in a raid on the lab.

Three more Nigerian nationals were arrested in subsequent raids on properties allegedly connected to the cartel.

The raid, which was carried out on May 16, was described by a spokesperson for Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency as targeting “an industrial-scale clandestine laboratory”.

Drugs allegedly produced in the jungle lab are believed to have been destined for international trade, as well as being sold in Nigeria itself.

The discovery of the site follows a similar raid in South Africa on a meth lab that saw four Mexican nationals arrested in Johannesburg earlier this year.

The agency’s head General Mohamed Buba Marwa said: “This network did not just traffic drugs — they were actively manufacturing industrial-scale quantities of highly lethal illicit substances right on our soil.”

General Marwa has been pivotal in attempts to crack down on cartel crimes in the west African country, going as far as to launch an anti-drug radio station for young people.

Clean Beat FM aims to “counter the toxic pop culture that glamourises drug abuse by replacing it with a vibrant alternative culture—one that celebrates sobriety, showcases real stories of recovery, and provides accurate, life-saving information”, according to General Marwa.

Explaining the role of agency, he said: “Our mandate is clear, and our resolve is unyielding. Day and night, our officers are on the front lines. We intercept illicit shipments, we dismantle sophisticated criminal syndicates, and we prosecute those who trade in human misery.”

“With the benefit of hindsight, I have always maintained that while enforcement wins battles, education and prevention win wars.

” True victory against the scourge of substance abuse cannot be achieved solely by the cold steel of handcuffs or the iron bars of a prison cell. It is won when we dismantle demand. It is won when we conquer the ignorance that lures our children into the abyss of addiction.”

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