US raises alarm over Mexican cartels’ alleged plan to make Nigeria meth hub

By Ogundele Eniola

The United States has warned that Mexican drug cartels are allegedly seeking to establish Nigeria as a major methamphetamine production hub, raising concerns over the country’s growing exposure to transnational drug trafficking networks.

The warning followed the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency’s (NDLEA) dismantling of four suspected methamphetamine laboratories across Nigeria this year, with investigations reportedly linking the facilities to Mexican criminal networks.

Michael Gonzales, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs for Africa and the Middle East, raised the alarm on Tuesday during a visit to the NDLEA headquarters in Abuja.

He commended the agency’s operations, stressing that intelligence-sharing and international cooperation were critical to disrupting criminal networks operating across national borders.

According to Gonzales, increased pressure on drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere is prompting traffickers to explore alternative production locations and trafficking routes in Africa.

He likened the development to “squeezing a balloon”, explaining that efforts to restrict criminal activities in one region could push traffickers into other territories.

NDLEA Chairman, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), said the agency’s investigations had uncovered what he described as a deliberate attempt by Mexican cartels to establish methamphetamine production facilities in Nigeria.

Marwa disclosed that operatives dismantled a large clandestine laboratory in a forested area of Ijebu East, Ogun State, where Mexican nationals and Nigerian collaborators were arrested.

He said substances recovered during the operation were valued at more than $360 million.

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The NDLEA chairman added that another industrial-scale laboratory was raided in Tapa Village, Oyo State, while similar facilities were dismantled in Enugu and Ebonyi states.

He warned that the alleged operations were designed to serve international markets rather than Nigerian consumers alone, with West Africa potentially serving as a transit corridor for methamphetamine shipments to Europe, Asia and the United States.

“These cartels are not setting up in our forests to supply Nigerian consumers alone,” Marwa said.

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive synthetic stimulant associated with serious health consequences, including cardiovascular complications and neurological damage. Its production in clandestine laboratories using chemical precursors allows criminal networks to manufacture the drug outside traditional cultivation-based drug-producing regions.

The alleged expansion of production facilities in Nigeria has heightened concerns about public health, organised crime and national security.

Marwa warned that drug trafficking could intersect with other illicit activities, including arms trafficking and terrorist financing, potentially worsening security challenges across Nigeria and the wider Sahel region.

He urged the United States to sustain its support for the NDLEA through specialised training, forensic capabilities, investigative assistance and equipment to strengthen the agency’s ability to dismantle sophisticated criminal networks.

The agency maintained that intelligence-led investigations and cooperation with international law-enforcement partners were essential to identifying clandestine laboratories, tracing supply chains and disrupting cross-border trafficking operations.

The US warning underscores the risk that Nigeria could evolve from a transit point for illicit drugs into a significant production location if foreign criminal networks successfully establish large-scale manufacturing operations.

Authorities face the challenge of preventing such facilities from taking root while strengthening border surveillance, chemical-precursor monitoring and cooperation with international partners to curb the production and distribution of synthetic drugs.