Court sets Friday for ruling on NDLEA Bid to destroy ₦480bn Meth Lab
The Federal High Court in Lagos has fixed July 24 to rule on an application by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) seeking permission to destroy a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory uncovered in a remote forest in Ogun State.
Justice Musa Kakaki fixed the date after a special court sitting held on Wednesday at the lab facility in Mowe village, Ijebu East Local Government Area of the state. On July 10, 2026, the NDLEA arraigned three Mexican nationals and seven Nigerians on an 11-count charge bordering on the alleged establishment and operation of the clandestine laboratory.
According to the NDLEA, its operatives discovered the laboratory with equipment and chemicals allegedly used to produce 2,419.48 kilograms of methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of more than ₦480 billion. The defendants are accused of manufacturing and possessing large quantities of methamphetamine, a psychotropic substance classified alongside hard drugs such as cocaine, heroin and LSD.
The prosecution also alleged that the defendants managed and financed a drug trafficking network, transporting precursor chemicals from Lagos to the remote laboratory. The chemicals, according to the NDLEA, included toluene, phenyl-2-propanone (P2P), phenylacetic acid, acetone and hydrochloric acid. The agency told the court that the substances were conveyed in vehicles, including a Toyota Tacoma, a Mercedes-Benz with registration number APP 942 YL, and a Toyota Highlander marked GWA 662 DJ.
The defendants were also accused of unlawfully possessing 358 kilograms of toluene, 1,834 kilograms of hydrochloric acid and 22.5 kilograms of acetone, allegedly intended for the production of methamphetamine. All 10 defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. At Wednesday’s proceedings, the prosecution called its first witness, a clandestine laboratory expert, Mr. Ajilema Anebi.
Anebi told the court that the substances recovered from the laboratory, where the second to eighth defendants were arrested, were used in the production and storage of large quantities of methamphetamine allegedly intended for export.
