Methamphetamine production facilities have been shut down by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, agents, who also apprehended those responsible for the Mkpuru Mmiri cartel in Victoria Garden City (VGC) Estate of Lekki, Lagos, and Nise town in Anambra State.
Brig-Mohammed Buba Marwa (Rtd), the Chairman and Managing Director of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, who made this announcement on Tuesday, stated that the arrested individuals will be charged to court after the investigation was complete.
Marwa announced the victories at a news conference in Abuja after months of meticulous intelligence gathering, vigilant tracking, and planned offensive action.
Marwa claimed that many communities in the region cried out for assistance as a result of the devastating effects that the distribution and abuse of the risky stimulant drug were having on their youth and others following reports on the outbreak of crystal methamphetamine abuse in the last quarter of 2021 in the South Eastern region of the country.
He claimed that Sunday Ukah from Aba, Abia State, who served as their cook or chemist, was detained alongside the labs owned by baron Chris Emeka Nzewi in Lekki and Paul Ozoemenam in Nise Community of Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The laboratory in Lagos, where a total of 258.74 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and numerous precursor chemicals used in the creation of the dangerous drug were found, was set up inside the Boys’ Quarter building of a four-bedroom duplex, according to the NDLEA boss.
The entire complement There were additional pieces of laboratory apparatus like gas cylinders, enormous gas burners, industrial face masks, industrial gloves, tubes, and flat-bottomed conical flasks, among others.
He pointed out that the Agency decided it was appropriate to inform the public about the recent busts in order to increase awareness of the threat that meth manufacturing poses to public health and to inform them of the tactics used by the barons engaged in the unwholesome activity.
“The owner of the laboratory in VGC, for instance, was producing this highly unstable and toxic drug in a house where he lived with his family. This speaks volumes about his insensitivity to the consequences of exposing his family, which includes a three-month-old baby, to the danger of hazardous chemicals. If that is the case, that is an indication that public health was of no concern to him.
“In this particular case, aside from the laboratory being close to the kitchen of the main house, the waste from the laboratory was channelled into the septic tank and soak away in the compound, with a high risk of contamination of the water table of the entire neighbourhood”.
He claimed that the suspect, who was living in a hotel at Admiralty Way Lekki Phase I while work was being done on his home, was apprehended by agency agents who had been following him for weeks. The suspect had his car parked in the complex to give the impression that he was at home.
Marwa added that the cook was also staying in a hotel outside the estate, where Chris Emeka Nzewi had left a sizable deposit to cover the cost of the cook’s lodging for up to a month.