The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Wednesday, May 20, announced the dismantling of what it described as the largest multi-billion-naira clandestine methamphetamine production factory ever discovered in Nigeria in Ogun State being operated by Anochili Innocent Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO).
The agency said six Nigerians and three Mexican technical experts linked to the illicit drug production facility were also arrested while N480 billion worth of methamphetamine was recovered from the clandestine laboratory located inside a forest in Ijebu Ode area of Ogun State.
The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa, revealed this to journalists while giving details of the major operational success at a media briefing at the Agency’s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.
Marwa identified the Nigerian suspects arrested in connection to the factory to include the cartel’s mastermind, Anochili Innocent, Nwankwo Sunday Christian, Igwe Abuchi Remijus, Ifeanyichukwu Chibuike Joshua, and Egwuonwu Uchenna Victor.
The three Mexican meth experts working for them as advisers in the factor who were also arrested were identified as Martinez Felix Nemecto, Jesus López Valles and Torrero Juan Carlos.
According to the NDLEA boss, the well-coordinated operation that led to the arrest of the suspects and uncovering of the factory was executed by elite operatives of the Agency’s Special Operations Unit (SOU) across Ogun and Lagos States within 48 hours last week following months of painstaking and credible intelligence gathering.City & Local Guides
“Through a clinical, simultaneous operation executed by the elite operatives of our Special Operations Unit (SOU), we have successfully dismantled a sophisticated, transnational methamphetamine production syndicate run jointly by a Nigerian drug cartel and their Mexican counterparts.
This 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.Insecurity Solutions Forum
Marwa said the operation to take out the network began on Saturday, 16th May 2026, when NDLEA operatives launched a well-coordinated, simultaneous strikes in both Ogun and Lagos States.
The primary target of the operation was a remote farm located at Abidagba forest, in Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State, which was being used as a massive, highly dangerous clandestine methamphetamine laboratory by the Anochili Innocent Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO).
Marwa added that another NDLEA’s 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.
“At the farm in the Ijebu forest, our operatives overran the clandestine laboratory in Ogun State, securing the perimeter and catching the syndicates completely off-guard. At this laboratory, we apprehended seven (7) key members of the cartel processing illicit substances.
“Most notably, the operation confirms our intelligence regarding the importation of foreign technical expertise by local cartels. Among those arrested are three (3) Mexican nationals brought into the country specifically to cook this deadly substance, alongside four (4) Nigerian collaborators.
“The suspects arrested in the forest lab are: Nwankwo Sunday Christian, 41; Igwe Abuchi Remijus, 42; Ifeanyichukwu Chibuike Joshua, 23; and Egwuonwu Uchenna Victor, 38; as well as the three Mexican meth experts: Martinez Felix Nemecto, 46; Jesus López Valles, 40; and Torrero Juan Carlos, 51” the NDLEA boss said
Marwa mentioned that the other tactical team cornered and arrested the cartel’s mastermind, Anochili Innocent, at his No. 8 Tafawa Balewa Street, Golf Estate, Lakowe, Lekki area of Lagos State.City & Local Guides
“A meticulous 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.”
Marwa disclosed that relentless follow-up operations on Monday 18th May 2026, led NDLEA operatives to 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 arrest brings to 10 the total number of cartel members, including the baron, the three Mexican specialists, and six Nigerian collaborators, who are currently in NDLEA custody,” said the NDLEA boss
The NDLEA boss said he directed the spcialized Chemical and Forensic Team of NDLEA to the clandestine laboratory to test, weigh, and secure the chemical components and sheer volume of dangerous precursor chemicals, industrial solvents, and finished products recovered is staggering.
“The operation yielded a massive 2,419.48 kilograms (over 2.4 tons) of chemical materials, including highly toxic, volatile, and crystallized methamphetamine worth Three Hundred and Sixty-Two Million, Nine Hundred and Twenty-Two Thousand Dollars ($362,922,000.00) in the international market. This translates to over Four Hundred and Eighty Billion Naira (N480,000,000,000.00). Imagine this humongous amount in the control of criminal elements! Also recovered from the cartel include: a Toyota Tacoma vehicle used for operations at the clandestine meth laboratory, and a Toyota Highlander seized from the kingpin’s residence.
To put this in perspective, the 2,419.48 kilograms of finished and liquid methamphetamine seized represents millions of street doses that would have flooded our local communities and international markets, causing untold destruction, psychosis, and violence.”he said
The NDLEA boss said the dismantling of the Anochili Innocent DTO, coming directly on the heels of the Simon Amadi cartel takedown, sends an unequivocal, resounding message to drug barons both locally and internationally that Nigeria is a hostile territory for their business, warning that the Agency will continue to hunt them down wherever they are located.
“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. Let it be known that no matter how deep into the bush you hide, no matter how secure your gated estate is, the NDLEA will hunt you down, disrupt your networks, and seize your ill-gotten wealth” Marwa warned
