Nigerian authorities dismantle Mexican-linked methamphetamine lab in forest

A Nigerian judge convened a federal high court hearing inside a makeshift laboratory in a dense forest two hours from Lagos, where three Mexicans and seven Nigerians were paraded in handcuffs. The hearing was held to allow the court to inspect the chemicals and equipment allegedly used to produce methamphetamine, known locally as ice. Justice Musa Kakaki examined the site as a bitter, pungent smell filled the air from a drum of crystallising liquid meth and open vats of dark, viscous unprocessed drug, according to the BBC.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said the temporary relocation of the court was necessary to understand the scale of the operation. When the suspects were arrested in May, the agency called it the country's largest-ever meth bust, seizing more than two tonnes of the drug worth approximately $360m (£270m). The NDLEA said it had "dealt another crippling blow" and dismantled "a highly sophisticated, multi-million-dollar Nigerian-Mexican methamphetamine production syndicate", the BBC reported.

Rise of Mexican ‘cooks’ in Africa

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The raid reflects a broader trend of Mexican drug cartels outsourcing methamphetamine production to Africa. Mexican specialists in manufacturing meth, known as 'cooks', are increasingly found working alongside locals in laboratories across Europe and Africa, according to law-enforcement agencies cited by the BBC. In June, agents discovered another meth lab hidden in a forest in neighbouring Oyo State, arresting five suspects including one Mexican methamphetamine expert.

“They perfected it, to the point now it is the highest purity, the highest potency version of meth.”

James Griego, counter-narcotics operations lead, US-Africa Command

James Griego, who leads counter-narcotics operations for US-Africa Command (Africom), told the BBC that Mexican meth is considered the best in the world. Intelligence from Africom and the US Drug Enforcement Administration has linked some of these laboratories to Mexico's two biggest cartels: the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New General Cartel, the BBC reported.

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Growing concern over meth consumption in Africa

NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi told the BBC that the population of West Africa is an attraction for Mexican syndicates, particularly the huge youth population, which provides cheap labour and a local market for consumption. A 2018 survey found that 14.4% of Nigeria's adult population had used an illicit drug, more than twice the global average estimated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime said methamphetamine use has spread across Africa, becoming widely available in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, where it is known as 'tik'.

What happens next

The suspects are expected to face trial in Nigeria. James Griego of Africom told the BBC that tighter scrutiny of traditional trafficking routes from Latin America may be part of the reason cartels have escalated operations in Africa, but added that "it is only part of the story". The NDLEA has said it will continue to work with international partners to dismantle the networks. AfriCom commander Gen Dagvin Anderson recently alleged to US Congress that African-based terror groups are increasingly financed by drug cartels, expanding their reach and lethality, as reported by the BBC.