….apprehends 3 Mexicans and 4 Nigerian collaborators
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agent,NDLEA last weekend achieved their biggest catch in recent history in Nigeria in a remote forest in Ijebu East Ogun State .
During the operation, sources revealed that the team effected the arrest of international drug criminals with drugs worth over N480billion.
On Saturday, 16th May 2026, NDLEA Elite operatives of the SOU, acting on credible intelligence, launched a well-coordinated, simultaneous strikes in both Ogun and Lagos States.
The primary target was a remote farm located at Abidagba forest, in Ijebu East LGA of Ogun State.
This farm was being used as a massive, highly dangerous clandestine methamphetamine laboratory (yes, that one in the Breaking Bad series) by the Anochili Innocent Drug Trafficking Organization.
At the farm in the remote Ijebu forest, NDLEA operatives overran the clandestine laboratory, they secured the perimeter and caught the syndicates completely off-guard.
At the laboratory, 7 key members of the cartel processing illicit substances were apprehended.
Among those arrested were 3 Mexican drugs experts: Martinez Felix Nemecto, 46; Jesus López Valles, 40; and Torrero Juan Carlos, 51.
They were were brought into the country specifically to cook methamphetamine.
Also arrested alongside them were 4 Nigerian collaborators-: Nwankwo Sunday Christian, 41; Igwe Abuchi Remijus, 42; Ifeanyichukwu Chibuike Joshua, 23; and Egwuonwu Uchenna Victor, 38.
Simultaneously, another tactical team closed in on the mastermind’s luxury fortress at No. 8 Tafawa Balewa Street, Golf Estate, Lakowe, Lekki area of Lagos State—the residence of the drug baron, Anochili Innocent.
The drug baron was cornered and arrested. A detailed search of his premises led to the recovery of the international passports and mobile phones of the three arrested Mexican cooks, directly linking him to the importation and management of the foreign criminals.
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On Monday 18th May 2026, NDLEA operatives stormed another property owned by the baron at House 70, Close 3, Mayfair Estate, Lakowe, Lekki, Lagos where another key member of the syndicate, Kingsley Orike Omonughwa, 44, was arrested after which investigators stormed the residence of another syndicate member, Emeka Nwobum, whose property served as the cartel’s strategic stash house.
The operation brought the total number of arrested suspected cartel members to 10, including the baron, the three Mexican specialists, and six Nigerian collaborators, who are currently in NDLEA custody.
The operation yielded a massive 2,419.48 kilograms (over 2.4 tons) of chemical materials, including highly toxic, volatile, and crystallized methamphetamine worth $362,922,000.00 in the international market. This translates to over N480billion.
The network did not just traffic drugs; they were actively manufacturing industrial-scale quantities of highly lethal illicit substances right on our soil, threatening the national security and public health of Nigeria.
