UNITED STATES WARNS OF MEXICAN CARTELS ATTEMPTING TO TURN NIGERIA INTO METHAMPHETAMINE MANUFACTURING HUB

U.S. officials commend National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for dismantling four clandestine production laboratories as NDLEA Chairman Buba Marwa calls for sustained international counter-narcotics cooperation

The United States government has issued a formal warning that Mexican transnational drug cartels are actively seeking to transform Nigeria into a major manufacturing and export hub for illicit methamphetamine.

Speaking during a bilateral security engagement with leadership from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL), Michael Gonzales, highlighted that recent interdictions confirm a deliberate strategy by Latin American syndicates to establish clandestine production bases in West Africa.

Gonzales commended the NDLEA for its swift tactical operations that resulted in the discovery and dismantling of four sophisticated methamphetamine laboratories linked directly to Mexican cartel operatives.

In his remarks, NDLEA Chairman, Brigadier-General Buba Marwa (retd.), emphasized that disrupting domestic production facilities serves as a vital forward defense against international drug trafficking routes that target both Nigerian communities and Western markets.

Marwa further underscored the critical link between narcotics trafficking, arms proliferation, and violent extremism across the Sahel region, urging the U.S. government to sustain its technical and forensic support to prevent criminal networks from exploiting enforcement gaps.