Mexican cartels are turning Nigeria into meth hub – US

The United States has warned that Mexican drug cartels are seeking alternative trafficking routes through Africa as increased pressure on their operations in the Western Hemisphere forces them to adapt.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Michael Gonzales, issued the warning on Tuesday during a visit to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency headquarters in Abuja. His comments followed the dismantling of four methamphetamine laboratories in Nigeria this year, which the NDLEA said were linked to Mexican criminal networks.

Gonzales, whose responsibilities cover Africa and the Middle East, said Nigeria was his first destination after assuming office four months ago because of its strategic importance and the agency’s operational record. He praised the NDLEA’s intelligence-led investigations, cooperation with other agencies and efforts to prosecute suspects. According to him, the four laboratory operations demonstrated how coordinated enforcement could disrupt international supply chains and protect communities beyond Nigeria.

Gonzales described pressure on cartels in the Western Hemisphere as “squeezing a balloon,” with criminal groups searching for other routes through Africa to reach Europe and additional markets. He also highlighted a shift from plant-based narcotics towards synthetic substances, warning that these could be harder to detect and potentially more dangerous. The response, he said, must address criminal organisations as interconnected networks, including the financial systems supporting their activities.

Responding, NDLEA Chairman Buba Marwa said recent investigations pointed to what the agency considered a deliberate attempt to establish Nigeria as a methamphetamine manufacturing hub. He said operatives dismantled a laboratory in a forest in Ijebu East, Ogun State, arresting three Mexican nationals described by the agency as methamphetamine production specialists, alongside Nigerian suspects.

Marwa described the facility as the largest clandestine methamphetamine laboratory discovered by the NDLEA in Nigeria. He said substances recovered there were valued at more than $360 million. According to him, another operation approximately four weeks later targeted an industrial-scale laboratory at Tapa Village in Oyo State, where a Mexican suspect and four Nigerian suspects were arrested. He added that similar facilities were subsequently dismantled in Enugu and Ebonyi states.

“These were not isolated incidents. They show a deliberate attempt to turn Nigeria into a manufacturing hub,” Marwa said. The NDLEA chairman argued that the facilities were intended to serve international markets rather than Nigerian consumers alone. He said criminal networks were seeking a West African corridor through which to move large quantities of methamphetamine to Europe, Asia and the United States.

Marwa also highlighted connections between trafficking, illicit weapons and the financing of armed groups, saying these threats required coordinated action across borders. He credited US assistance with strengthening the NDLEA’s forensic analysis, investigations, professional training, financial-crime detection and equipment maintenance.

According to figures he presented, the agency arrested 96,157 drug offenders, including 250 people it described as drug barons, over the past five years. He said more than 15.8 million kilogrammes of illicit substances were seized during that period, while 16,691 traffickers were convicted.

Marwa urged Washington to maintain or increase its support, warning that any reduction could leave gaps for criminal networks to exploit. “Traffickers, arms dealers and terrorists cooperate across borders every day, and governments confronting them must do the same,” he said.