Court Remands 2 Mexican, 4 Nigerian Collaborators Accused of Operating Secret Meth Lab in Oyo Forest

A Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, has ordered the remand of two Mexicans and four of their Nigerian collaborators arrested in connection with a methamphetamine laboratory discovered inside a forest in Oyo State.

‎The Mexicans are fifty-six-year-old JOSE VILLA OCHOA and forty-year-old CARRERA LOAIZA ARTURO, while the Nigerian collaborators are MAXWELL UCHE NEVOH, OLATUNJI YUSUF, BANKOLE AKEEM OWOLABI, and GANIU MONSIU.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency arraigned the defendants before Justice NKEONYE EVELYN MAHA on count charges of establishing and operating a secret Meth laboratory in Tapa village, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State.

‎Reports indicate that when the charges were read to the defendants in court in the language they understood, all six pleaded not guilty.

Following the development, Justice MAHA ordered that they be remanded at the Correctional Centre in Ibadan and adjourned the case to January 2027 for trial.

The NDLEA had previously secured the remand of three other Mexicans and seven of their Nigerian collaborators who were arrested for a similar offence in an earlier operation at a forest hideout in Ogun State on Saturday, May 16, 2026, following their arraignment before a Federal High Court in Lagos.