US hails NDLEA over crackdown on meth labs linked to Mexican cartels in Nigeria
The United States has praised the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for dismantling four methamphetamine laboratories linked to Mexican drug cartels in Nigeria.
The commendation came from Michael Gonzales, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs for Africa and the Middle East, during a visit to the agency’s headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.
Gonzales, who was received by NDLEA Chairman Buba Marwa and members of the agency’s management team, said Nigeria was his first destination in the region because of its influence in Africa and the agency’s record of operations against drug trafficking.
He said the visit provided an opportunity to assess the results of cooperation between the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and the NDLEA.
“Because as a leader, as an economic powerhouse on the continent, but also particularly NDLEA for the leadership and the impressive wins that you and your team and your interagency counterparts have delivered time and again,” he said.
Gonzales identified the dismantling of the four methamphetamine laboratories as evidence of intelligence-led investigations, inter-agency collaboration and effective prosecution.
He warned that drug cartels facing increased pressure in the Western Hemisphere could redirect their trafficking operations towards Africa, Europe and Oceania.
According to him, sustained international cooperation is necessary to disrupt transnational criminal organisations and the financial networks that support their activities.
Marwa, in his remarks, said NDLEA operatives had dismantled what he described as Nigeria’s largest clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in a forest in Ijebu East, Ogun State.
