IJEBU AREA OF OGUN STATE — The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency shut down an industrial-scale clandestine laboratory in a remote forest in the Ijebu area of Ogun state and dismantled a transnational organized drug syndicate involving Nigerians and Mexicans. The agency's special operations unit carried out the raid in the southwestern region of Nigeria.

Seven cartel members were arrested during the raid — four Nigerians and three Mexicans — with three more apprehended in follow-up arrests. Officers seized 2.4 tons of chemical materials, including methamphetamine, worth 480 billion naira (US$363 million), along with two vehicles.

In a statement, the agency described the operation as the biggest drug bust ever in Nigeria. Agency head Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa said the network had been producing drugs on Nigerian soil at an industrial scale.

"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," Marwa said.

Ogun state, where the laboratory was located, shares a border with Lagos. The state is in the southwestern region of Nigeria, where the agency's special operations unit conducted the raid.

In recent years, West and Central Africa have emerged as a hot spot for global trafficking and manufacturing of illicit drugs due to porous borders and corruption, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The agency did not specify how long the laboratory had been operating before the raid.