US commends NDLEA over busts of meth labs linked to Mexican cartels

The United States has commended the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for dismantling four methamphetamine laboratories linked to Mexican cartels in Nigeria.

Michael Gonzales, US deputy assistant secretary of state for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) for Africa and the Middle East, praised the agency during a visit to its headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.

Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said in a statement that Gonzales was received by Buba Marwa, NDLEA chairman, and members of its management team.

Gonzales, who assumed office four months ago, said he chose Nigeria as his first destination because of its leadership on the continent and the NDLEA’s operational successes.

“I became the deputy assistant secretary of state for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement just four months ago covering all countries of Africa and the Middle East. And when I was thinking where does it make the most sense to visit first, Nigeria was a clear answer,” he said.

“Because as a leader, as an economic powerhouse on the continent, but also particularly NDLEA for the leadership and the impressive wins that you and your team and your interagency counterparts have delivered time and again.

“In addition to the very robust partnership between INL and NDLEA, I wanted to see firsthand where the magic happens, as we say in the United States.”

Gonzales cited the four methamphetamine laboratory dismantled by the NDLEA this year as evidence of intelligence-led investigations, inter-agency cooperation and effective prosecution.

He said the international drug trade had few boundaries, adding that the partnership between INL and the NDLEA “fundamentally delivers for the Nigerian people, for the American people”.

Gonzales also warned that pressure on drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere could redirect trafficking routes towards Africa, Europe and Oceania.

He called for sustained efforts to combat transnational criminal organisations and the financial networks supporting them.

Marwa said NDLEA operatives had dismantled what he described as Nigeria’s largest clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in a forest in Ijebu east, Ogun state, where three Mexican meth experts and their Nigerian collaborators were arrested.

He said the agency recovered illicit substances worth more than $360 million.

The NDLEA chairman said another industrial-scale laboratory was raided in Tapa village, Oyo state, where a Mexican methamphetamine expert and four Nigerian collaborators were arrested.

He added that similar facilities had been dismantled in Enugu and Ebonyi states.

“These were not isolated incidents. They show a deliberate attempt to turn Nigeria into a manufacturing hub,” he said.

“Every Meth producing laboratory that we shut down is a supply line that never reaches an American street, and every cartel operative we arrest is one fewer in the pipeline.

“Our forensic chemists, our investigators and our tactical teams are, in effect, forward defence for communities in the United States.”

Marwa also linked drug trafficking to arms proliferation and terrorism, saying proceeds from the trade could sustain armed groups operating across the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin.

He said the US assistance had strengthened the agency’s forensic analysis, investigative capacity, professional training and equipment maintenance.

“This great partnership has fuelled our offensives that yielded the arrest of 96,157 drug offenders including 250 drug barons, the seizure of over 15.8million kilograms of assorted illicit drugs and conviction of 16, 691 drug traffickers including the kingpins, in the last five years,” he said.

Marwa urged the US government to sustain its support, warning that withdrawing assistance could create gaps exploited by criminal networks and terrorist groups. (TheCable)