The NDLEA has busted and dismantled two major clandestine laboratories in Lagos and Anambra state where dangerous illicit drug, crystal methamphetamine, called Mkpuru Mmiri in local parlance, were produced for distribution across Nigeria and export.
According to the Chairman of NDLEA, Marwa: “The first one, located in VGC, Estate, Lagos, is owned by a baron, Chris Emeka Nzewi, while the second, in Nise Community, Anambra State, was owned by Paul Ozoemenam.
The barons were arrested alongside Sunday Ukah, the cook or chemist that produced the drugs for them. The laboratory in Lagos was set up inside the Boys Quarter building of a four-bedroom duplex.
The owner of the laboratory in VGC, for instance, was producing this highly unstable and tœxic drug in a house where he lived with his family.
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.
On average, the lab produced 50 kilos of methamphetamine every week with plans underway to increase the capacity of production to at least 100kg per week.
It is very important to note that the waste from methamphetamine production is dangerous to the ecosystem. The chemicals are tœxic and once they seep into the soil, they contaminate the water table from which surrounding wells and boreholes draw their water.
And citizens who unwittingly consume the water from such sources are exposed to heart and kidney ailments and other organ diseases. What makes it worse is that the production usually takes place in the middle of the night, between 11 pm and 4 am, and therefore, unsuspecting neighbours could have been exposed to the hazards for months or even years.”
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