Police forces raided one of the largest cartel meth labs ever and made a historic seizure, while arresting three Mexican cartel members … in Nigeria. The raid exposes the growing expansion of Mexican cartels, which are developing partnerships with other criminal organizations worldwide.
This week, Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) announced the operation, which was the result of months of investigation and the revelation that Nigerian mobsters were working hand in hand with Mexican Cartels to operate the lab.
In their statement, the NDLEA revealed that the raid took place simultaneously in two separate locations. One raid took place in the actual lab in a rural area in Ogun, where they seized drugs and precursors worth $360 million and arrested three Mexican cartel chemists and four other men.
At the same time, agents raided a luxury home in the Lagos area where they arrested a local drug lord and seized various items, including the passports of the Mexican chemists who were reportedly staying in that home with him.
Authorities then conducted subsequent raids, capturing other local drug lords, bringing the total of arrests to ten. Authorities in Nigeria did not reveal which drug cartel the Mexican nationals belonged to.
The three Mexicans were identified as Feliz Nemecto Martinez, 46; Jesus Lopez Valles, 40; and Juan Carlos Torrero, 51.
The raid in Nigeria follows a trend previously reported by Breitbart Texas that shows Mexican drug cartels have been expanding their presence worldwide with networks in Europe, Canada, and Australia.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.