The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has raised the alarm over attempts by international drug cartels to establish production bases in Nigeria, particularly in forests across Ogun and Oyo states.

The agency disclosed that Mexican-linked criminal networks had been involved in efforts to establish industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratories in the two states as part of attempts to gain a foothold in Nigeria’s illicit drug market.

The Director of Media and Advocacy and NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this on Thursday during an interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State.

Babafemi said the agency had uncovered attempts by foreign criminal elements to penetrate Nigeria’s drug market, stressing that operatives were taking the fight directly to the cartels rather than waiting for illicit substances to be moved through airports, seaports and highways.

“We've seen recently the collaboration between the Nigerian-Mexican cartels trying to have methamphetamine laboratories in the forests of Ogun and Oyo State,” he said.

He added that a similar operation in Ebonyi State had resulted in arrests, saying the suspects would be publicly paraded after the completion of necessary procedures.

According to him, the development reflected the increasingly international nature of drug trafficking and the determination of foreign criminal networks to establish production bases 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,” Babafemi said.

He said the NDLEA was also working with other security agencies and international law enforcement partners to disrupt drug trafficking networks, adding that the agency's strategy now focused heavily on intelligence sharing and dismantling criminal operations at their sources.

Babafemi said the NDLEA was targeting not only drug traffickers but also the financial structures and equipment supporting their operations.

“We are dismantling all their structures and disabling their capacity and capability, whether in terms of their financial backbone, or their instrumentalities,” he said.

He further disclosed that traffickers were increasingly adapting their routes in response to intensified enforcement at Nigerian airports and seaports.

According to him, some criminal networks now move illicit substances through neighbouring countries before attempting to bring them into Nigeria.

He cited the dismantling of a cartel operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor, describing the route as one that had contributed to the supply of opioids fuelling drug abuse among Nigerian youths.

The NDLEA spokesman also disclosed that the agency was expanding its capacity to monitor drug trafficking through cyberspace, including open social media platforms, the dark web and cryptocurrency networks.

He said several arrests had resulted from social media monitoring, while personnel were undergoing specialised training in financial investigation, asset tracing and recovery of proceeds linked to narcotics trafficking.

Babafemi also warned against the role of social media influencers in promoting illicit drug use, saying some influencers who glorified narcotics had already been sanctioned.

He said the NDLEA was working with the Actors Guild of Nigeria and the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria to discourage the glamorisation of drug use in the entertainment industry.

“We have deployed what we call the stick and the carrot approach,” he said, explaining that the agency combined enforcement against offenders with engagement aimed at persuading influencers to change their messaging.

Babafemi described international drug cartels as highly organised and dangerous criminal enterprises, saying the agency regarded them as “merchants of death” because of the harm caused by their activities.

He said the agency's concerns now extended beyond cannabis, cocaine and tramadol to synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine and Captagon.

According to him, cocaine is not produced in Nigeria but is transported from South America through Africa before being moved to Europe and other destinations.

He said the high value of narcotics on the international market was one of the factors driving the activities of the cartels, noting that a kilogramme of methamphetamine or cocaine could sell for as much as $500,000 in some parts of the world.

Babafemi disclosed that the methamphetamine laboratory uncovered in an Ogun forest had the potential to produce drugs 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.