From BBC News · · 1m 40s
Mexican cartels are building meth labs in Nigeria
An airport arrest in Lagos unravelled a suspected industrial meth lab, the third linked to Mexicans in four months.
In brief
An airport arrest in Lagos unravelled a suspected industrial meth lab, the third linked to Mexicans in four months. Meth can be cooked anywhere with the right chemicals, so cartels are relocating production to West Africa's forests instead of shipping the drug there. Originally reported by BBC News.
Caught on the way out
Arturo Carrera Loaiza, 40, was detained at Lagos international airport last month as he tried to leave Nigeria. The drug enforcement agency only revealed the arrest now.
His own photos gave him away
Officials say they found images on his devices of him in what looked like a lab coat, next to meth-making equipment. Location data in the pictures pointed to a property in Ebonyi state.
A lab in the countryside
At the site, officers say they recovered chemicals, dehydrators, condensers, a reaction pot, scales, gas burners and a sieve with meth traces. A CCTV card held footage of a man in a blue lab coat.
He denies all of it
Loaiza told the NDLEA he had no part in making methamphetamine, and said a local contact invited him to Nigeria to discuss opening a restaurant.
The third find in four months
Investigators say he also recruited another Mexican for a forest lab in Oyo state, raided in June. A month earlier, three Mexicans and seven Nigerians were arrested at another forest lab.
“Nigeria will not be allowed to become a haven for transnational drug cartels”
Why West Africa
Cocaine and heroin need the right soil. Meth just needs chemicals and a chemist, so syndicates can set up fast in remote forest land far from the jurisdictions chasing them.
The one thing
Meth can be cooked anywhere with the right chemicals, so cartels are relocating production to West Africa's forests instead of shipping the drug there.
