The United States has warned that Mexican drug cartels are increasingly turning to Africa as an alternative route for trafficking synthetic drugs, following the dismantling of four methamphetamine laboratories in Nigeria by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) this year.
The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs for Africa and the Middle East, Michael Gonzales, gave the warning during a visit to the NDLEA headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.
Gonzales commended the agency for its counter-narcotics operations, describing the laboratory raids as evidence of the importance of intelligence gathering, inter-agency cooperation, and effective prosecution in combating international drug trafficking.
He said Nigeria was his first destination since assuming office four months ago because of the country’s strategic importance and the NDLEA’s operational record.
The US official warned that intensified pressure on drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere could force traffickers to explore alternative routes through Africa to reach markets in Europe and other parts of the world.
He likened the development to “squeezing a balloon”, explaining that pressure on criminal networks in one region could push their activities towards other territories.
Gonzales also expressed concern about the growing shift from plant-based narcotics to synthetic drugs, which he said presented additional challenges for law enforcement agencies because of their production methods and potentially deadly effects.
He stressed that the international nature of drug trafficking required countries to strengthen cooperation and target criminal organisations, including their financial networks.
According to him, the NDLEA’s operations against the four methamphetamine laboratories demonstrated how effective enforcement in Nigeria could help protect communities in other countries.
Speaking during the visit, NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), said the agency’s investigations had uncovered what he described as a deliberate attempt by Mexican drug cartels to establish Nigeria as a manufacturing base for methamphetamine.
Marwa disclosed that the agency had dismantled what it described as the largest clandestine methamphetamine laboratory discovered in Nigeria, located in a forest in Ijebu East, Ogun State.
He said three Mexican methamphetamine experts and their Nigerian collaborators were arrested during the operation, while illicit substances valued at more than $360m were recovered.
According to him, the agency subsequently raided another industrial-scale laboratory in Tapa Village, neighbouring Oyo State, where a Mexican methamphetamine expert and four Nigerian collaborators were arrested.
He added that similar facilities were later dismantled in Enugu and Ebonyi states, with investigations linking the operations to Mexican cartels.
“These were not isolated incidents. They show a deliberate attempt to turn Nigeria into a manufacturing hub,” Marwa said.
The NDLEA chairman alleged that the cartels intended to use West Africa as a corridor for transporting industrial quantities of methamphetamine to international markets, including Europe, Asia, and the United States.
He argued that the laboratory seizures had implications beyond Nigeria, saying the disruption of drug production networks could prevent illicit substances from reaching consumers abroad.
Marwa also highlighted the connection between drug trafficking, illegal arms trading, and terrorism, warning that proceeds from narcotics could finance armed groups and other criminal activities.
“Crime has no borders, and neither does the threat. The drugs we seize, the arms we intercept, and the terrorist financing we trace are not separate problems,” he said.
The NDLEA chairman said cooperation with the United States had strengthened the agency’s capacity in forensic and chemical analysis, professional training, investigations, financial crime detection, and equipment maintenance.
He disclosed that the agency had arrested 96,157 suspected drug offenders, including 250 drug barons, seized more than 15.8 million kilogrammes of assorted illicit drugs, and secured 16,691 convictions over the past five years.
Marwa attributed the results partly to international cooperation and called on Washington to sustain its assistance to the agency.
He warned that a withdrawal of US support could create gaps that drug traffickers and terrorist networks might exploit, urging the American government to maintain or increase its assistance.
“Traffickers, arms dealers and terrorists cooperate across borders every day, and governments confronting them must do the same,” he said.
Gonzales said the United States had more than four decades of experience supporting counter-narcotics operations worldwide, including through training and equipment, and reaffirmed the importance of international partnerships in disrupting drug trafficking networks.
