LAGOS - Nigeria's anti-drugs agency said it had uncovered what it described as the country's largest-ever industrial-scale meth lab in a southwestern remote forest and arrested nine suspects, including three Mexican nationals.
Nigeria has long been considered a hub for the production and trafficking of illicit drugs bound for Europe and other African countries.
The raid on a remote farm revealed an "industrial-scale clandestine laboratory, the biggest ever discovered in Nigeria hidden in a remote forest in ... Ogun state," the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said in a statement.
The operation, which also included raids on two residential properties in an upscale Lagos neighbourhood, recovered chemicals worth $362,922,000, including crystal meth, it added.
"We are fully aware of the shifting tactics of these cartels, including the disturbing trend of hiring South American cartel specialists to set up production factories in our rural communities," NDLEA CEO Buba Marwa said in the statement.
- AFP