Two Mexicans, Four Nigerians Remanded Over Oyo Meth Lab

Two Mexican nationals and 4 Nigerians have been remanded at a correctional facility in Ibadan, Oyo State, over their alleged involvement in establishing and working a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory inside a forest in Tapa village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area.

The six defendants have been remanded on Friday after pleading not responsible to a four-count cost bordering on conspiracy, working a drug trafficking organisation and the unlawful manufacturing of methamphetamine, a extremely addictive psychotropic substance.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arraigned them earlier than Justice Nkeonye Evelyn Maha of the Federal High Court in Ibadan.

The defendants have been recognized as Mexican nationals Jose Villa Ochoa, 56, and Carrera Loaiza Arturo, 40, alongside 4 Nigerians: Maxwell Uche Nevoh, 30; Olatunji Yusuf, 37; Bankole Akeem Owolabi, 45; and Ganiu Monsiu, 43.

According to the NDLEA, in a press release issued on Friday by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, 5 of the defendants, together with one of many Mexican nationals, have been arrested on June 17, 2026, by its operatives in a forested space of Tapa village, the place the clandestine drug laboratory was allegedly established.

The second Mexican, Arturo, was subsequently arrested on August 19, 2026, whereas allegedly making an attempt to flee Nigeria by way of the Lagos airport.

The four-count cost filed in opposition to them alleged that between December 2025 and June 2026, at totally different areas in Lagos and Oyo states, the defendants conspired to function a drug trafficking organisation and established an unlawful laboratory for the manufacturing of methamphetamine.

They have been additionally accused of unlawfully transporting and distributing chemical substances supposed for the manufacture of the illicit drug, offences punishable beneath Sections 20(1)(f) and 20(2)(a) of the NDLEA Act.

All six defendants pleaded not responsible after the costs have been learn to them in languages they understood.

Following their pleas, Justice Maha ordered that they be remanded on the Correctional Centre in Ibadan.

The choose adjourned the case till January 26, 27, 28 and 29, 2027, for trial.

The newest arrests come months after the NDLEA uncovered one other alleged clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in a forest hideout in Ogun State.

In that operation, performed on May 16, 2026, three Mexican nationals and 7 Nigerian collaborators have been arrested over an analogous alleged drug manufacturing operation.

The suspects have been subsequently arraigned earlier than a Federal High Court in Lagos, the place their bail utility was rejected, and the court docket ordered an accelerated listening to of the case.