The NDLEA operatives also arrested the operators of the illegal laboratories in separate raids on their hideous in Lagos and Anambra states respectively.
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have busted illicit drug, methamphetamine, manufacturing laboratories in Lagos and Anambra states, SaharaReporters can report.
The NDLEA operatives also arrested the operators of the illegal laboratories in separate raids on their hideous in Lagos and Anambra states respectively.
The Chairman of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa, disclosed this to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, saying the laboratory located in the Lekki area of Lagos belongs to one Chris Emeka Nzewi, while the one in Awka South, Anambra is owned by Paul Ozoemenam.
"The first one, located in Victoria Garden City (VGC) Estate of Lekki, Lagos, is owned by a baron, Chris Emeka Nzewi, while the second, in Nise Community of Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State was owned by Paul Ozoemenam.
"The owners of these two illicit meth laboratories were successfully arrested alongside Sunday Ukah from Aba, Abia State, the cook or chemist that produced the drugs for them.
"No doubt, we’re all familiar with reports on the outbreak of crystal methamphetamine abuse in the last quarter of 2021, predominantly in the South East part of the country. Many communities in the area cried for help because of the devastating effects the distribution and abuse of the dangerous stimulant drug were having on their youths and others.
"Over the past seven months, we have deployed all available assets to find the primary source of manufacturing of this dangerous drug in Nigeria and arrest the barons behind it. I am pleased to inform the public today that, after months of painstaking intelligence gathering, diligent tracking and coordinated offensive action, we recorded a breakthrough on Saturday, July 30, 2022, when officers and men of the Agency successfully busted two methamphetamine manufacturing facilities, called Meth Laboratories.
"The laboratory in Lagos was set up inside the Boys’ Quarter building of a four-bedroom duplex. From there, we recovered a total of 258.74 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and various precursor chemicals used for the production of the toxic drug. The complete paraphernalia Laboratory equipment such as gas cylinders, giant gas burners, industrial face masks, industrial gloves, tubes and flat-bottomed conical flasks, among others were also found.
"NDLEA is obliged to brief the public about these recent busts to raise people’s awareness of the danger that meth production constitutes to public health. And also to let you know the modus operandi of the barons involved in this unwholesome activity. We believe the knowledge will raise public awareness about the risk of meth production in their vicinity.
"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 soakaway in the compound, with a high risk of contamination of the water table of the entire neighbourhood," Marwa said.