Instead, he drove to an unfinished, weed-choked building on the deserted outskirts of town, and holed up there for weeks. When agents eventually stormed the building, they found an amphetamine-producing factory capable of churning out 25kg of white crystal meth powder, or "ice", every few hours. Benitez Milan was, in fact, a Colombian drug runner named Gonzalo Osorio, whose skills in the rapid set-up of clandestine laboratories commanded a $38,000 (£25,000) weekly fee. The factory, one of an intended three, was among the earliest to be discovered in west Africa, and signalled a disturbing new chapter in the regional drug trade.
Narcotic investigators in Lagos arrested seven members of the criminal gang who are helping in further investigation. Apart from Osorio, there are Gabriel Onyebuchi Obi, Anthony Ebi, Olisa Cyprian Onyebuchukwu, Mickey Ezeokoli, Solomon Ogbonna and Chidi Alexandra Efeagwazi.
“Twelve vehicles belonging to the suspects have been confiscated. In addition, four houses have also been traced to the criminal group by the agency.”
The NDLEA boss explained that the operation that led to the arrest of the suspects started in November 2011 after Osorio was contracted by a Nigerian drug syndicate to establish three methamphetamine production laboratories in different parts of the country.
The first clandestine laboratory Osorio established was situated at Majek area of Ibeju Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State while another one was located in Nanka village in Nnewi area of Anambra State. He added that the gang was in the process of establishing the third laboratory when the members were apprehended by NDLEA officers.
Giade said, “Gonzelo-Osorio left the country in December 2011 and returned on May 30, 2012 with a false identity as a citizen of Paraguay with the name Baez Benitez Milan on his travel documents. He is regarded as the best methamphetamine production expert in the business and was hired on $38,000 dollars weekly by the drug cartel.”
For the past decade, west Africa's creek-lined coast has been a pipeline for trafficking South American cocaine to Europe and Asia. About $1.25bn of illicit trade has passed through annually, responsible in part for destabilising huge swathes of the region, from Mali's recent turmoil to the narco-state of Guinea-Bissau. But now home grown criminal syndicates that previously earned cuts by providing mules for Latin American cartels are cooking up their own slice of the global drug pie. Their narcotic of choice is methamphetamine, a highly profitable powder concocted using readily available and legal ingredients.
"This is the next niche for criminal groups in west Africa because you can easily cook it at home, and you can easily adjust it for supply and demand. It is slowly but surely spreading in the region," said Pierre Lapaque, head of the United Nations office on drugs and crime in west Africa, whose latest report highlights the rising trade.
Four large-scale crystal meth labs have been discovered in Nigeria. Shipments of precursor chemicals have been seized in neighbouring Benin and Togo and in Guinea officials discovered huge vats used to cook MDMA, a similar synthetic drug.
Bola, a lanky drug baron with twitching hands who is based in down town Lagos, said only local wrestlers bought synthetic drugs when he started peddling eight years ago. "It was difficult to sell. Now the guys selling [meth] to big boys and foreigners in the VIP dens can no longer come to areas like this because they will be robbed. Everybody knows they make big money," he said.
Behind Bola's stifling, corrugated iron shop selling dusty cartons of soft drinks is a warren of cramped brick-walled rooms barely high enough to stand up in. Ghoulish in the occasional shard of sunlight piercing through the haze, dealers and glassy-eyed users slump on wooden benches, hunch over chessboards or incessantly chop and wrap mounds of crystalline powder.
In the 1930's, amphetamine was marketed as Benzedrine in an over-the-counter inhaler to treat nasal congestion (for asthmatics, hay fever sufferers, and people with colds). A probable direct reaction to the Depression and Prohibition, the drug was used and abused by non-asthmatics looking for a buzz. By 1937 amphetamine was available by prescription in tablet form.
Methamphetamine went into wide use during World War II, when both sides used it to keep troops awake. High doses were given to Japanese Kamikaze pilots before their suicide missions.
During the Second World War, US soldiers and aviators were given benzedrine, anamphetamine drug, to increase their alertness during long periods on duty. British troops used 72 million amphetamine tablets in the second world war and the RAF used so many that "Methedrine won the Battle of Britain" according to one report.
In the United States in the 1950s, legally manufactured tablets of both dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine) and methamphetamine (Methedrine) became readily available and were used non-medically by college students, truck drivers, and athletes. As use of amphetamines spread, so did their abuse. Amphetamines became a cure-all for such things as weight control to treating mild depression.
The most common ways that people take crystal meth are by ingesting it orally in tablet or pill form, by inhaling it nasally (“snorting” it) in powder form, by smoking it, or by injecting it intravenously. When crystal meth is taken orally, its effects begin after 15 or 20 minutes and can last 12 hours, or even 24. It is absorbed far more rapidly when snorted, and even more rapidly when smoked or when injected intravenously. Its effects are then felt almost instantaneously and may include a euphoria so intense that it feels orgasmic, commonly known as a rush. It is important to note that the faster a drug is absorbed, the more intense its effects will be, and the more addictive it will be. Hence methamphetamine, when smoked, snorted, or injected, is one of the most addictive drugs on the illicit market.
Given that users develop a tolerance for amphetamines very quickly, many users will begin to take several doses in a row to maintain the feeling of a high and avoid the symptoms of withdrawal that set in when they stop taking these drugs. During these periods of heavy consumption, known as binges, users stop eating and sleeping. Intravenous users may inject as much as a gram of crystal meth every 2 or 3 hours for several days in a row. They will cease this destructive consumption pattern only when their supply of the drug is exhausted and they can no longer get any more, or when their behaviour becomes so disorganized that they cannot continue.
Crystal meth that is smoked, inhaled, or injected is one of the most powerful psychostimulants available on the illicit drug market. Users therefore become physically and psychologically dependent on it rapidly, and the desire to consume more of it then becomes a constant preoccupation and eventually an obsession. The only way to satisfy this obsession is to go on another binge. Chronic users usually display various symptoms of anxiety, insomnia and depression.
They may also display a variety of psychotic symptoms, such as paranoia and auditory hallucinations, and sometimes even violent behaviour.
These psychotic symptoms can persist for months or even years after someone has stopped using the drug. Symptoms of meth abuse include: dramatic weight loss, facial disfigurement, social dysfunction (loss of job, family, friends, or money; schizophrenic-like behavior), and extremely poor dentition ("meth mouth," resulting in broken teeth, severe gum infections, and oral wasting
The growing popularity of crystal meth in the gay community seems to be coinciding with an increase in HIV and Type B and Type C hepatitis infections. This increase might be largely due to the sharing of syringes and needles to inject this drug intravenously. Dependent users’ craving to take another dose of crystal meth as soon as they can makes them ignore safe injection practices. In addition, this drug modifies sexual behaviour by increasing libido and reducing inhibitions, so users also tend to ignore safe sex practices, such as using a condom.
Another significant issue is that the manufacturing of methamphetamine releases hazardous toxic substances into the environment. These substances include flammable solvents, chlorinated solvents, phosphorus, iodine, heavy metals such as lead and mercury, and various other pollutants that are highly hazardous to public health. Manufacturing one kilogram of methamphetamine produces roughly five to six kilograms of toxic waste. The operating conditions in clandestine laboratories present risks not only for the environment, but also for the illicit drug producers themselves, as well as for their neighbours and for the police, firefighters, ambulance attendants and other emergency workers who may be called to the scene of these laboratories.
What makes methamphetamine such an attractive high? Meth users report that after taking the drug they experience a sudden "rush" of pleasure or a prolonged sense of euphoria, as well as increased energy, focus, confidence, sexual prowess and feelings of desirability. However, after that first try, users require more and more of the drug to get that feeling again, and maintain it. With repeated use, methamphetamine exacts a toll on the mind and body, robbing users of their physical health and cognitive abilities, their libido and good looks, and their ability to experience pleasure. Here's how the body reacts to meth and the consequences of long-term abuse.
In lab experiments done on animals, sex causes dopamine levels to jump from 100 to 200 units, and cocaine causes them to spike to 350 units. "[With] methamphetamine you get a release from the base level to about 1,250 units, something that's about 12 times as much of a release of dopamine as you get from food and sex and other pleasurable activities
When addicts use meth over and over again, the drug actually changes their brain chemistry, destroying the wiring in the brain's pleasure centres and making it increasingly impossible to experience any pleasure at all.
Meth Aand The Brain
Meth releases a surge of dopamine, causing an intense rush of pleasure or prolonged sense of euphoria.
Over time, meth destroys dopamine receptors, making it impossible to feel pleasure.
Although these pleasure centres can heal over time, research suggests that damage to users' cognitive abilities may be permanent.
Chronic abuse can lead to psychotic behaviour including paranoia, insomnia, anxiety, extreme aggression, delusions and hallucinations, and even death.
Visible Signs
Meth abuse causes the destruction of tissues and blood vessels, inhibiting the body's ability to repair itself.
Acne appears, sores take longer to heal, and the skin loses its luster and elasticity, making the user appear years, even decades older.
Poor diet, tooth grinding and oral hygiene results in tooth decay and loss.
Meth Mouth
"Meth mouth" is characterized by broken, discoloured and rotting teeth.
The drug causes the salivary glands to dry out, which allows the mouth's acids to eat away at the tooth enamel, causing cavities.
Teeth are further damaged when users obsessively grind their teeth, binge on sugary food and drinks, and neglect to brush or floss for long periods of time.
Sex And Meth
Meth heightens the libido and impairs judgement which can lead to risky sexual behaviour.
Many users take the drug intravenously, increasing their chances of contracting diseases such as Hepatitis B or C and HIV/AIDS.
Meth's Other Effects On The Body
Increased heart rate
Disorganized lifestyle
Lowered resistance to illness
Liver damage
Convulsions
Extreme rise in body temperature, which can cause brain damage
Stroke
Death
Most international orders come from South Africa and more recently Asia "because many people are afraid to go. The punishment there if they should catch you … " Bola mimed a knife across his throat, indicating the death penalty.
A kilo of meth exported to south-east Asia, where some countries have reported a 250% increase in traffickers from west Africa arrested over five years, brings in $45,000. In Bola's den, poorer users pay $1.20 for a single hit.
Crystal meth was traditionally brewed by US biker gangs but laws were tightened in 2005, curbing production. Thousands of miles away, there was unintended fallout. "Cocaine trafficking was falling because we were making record seizures. Suddenly we started making more and more interceptions of methamphetamine leaving the country, but nothing at all was coming in. We realised criminals had started making it within our borders," said Mitchell Ofojeyu, an official at the heavily guarded headquarters of Nigeria's drug enforcement agency.
Some worry the effects of this new trade will spill over into local communities, raising the spectre of rising crime and health problems.
"The warning signals are there that this really is a problem that could run amok in years ahead if comparable resources aren't devoted to the human consumption side," said Alan Doss, a senior adviser at the Geneva-based Kofi Annan Foundation.
For now, widespread unfamiliarity among the local population has sometimes got in the way of curbing the trade. When Nigerian officials discovered their first meth factory, they wanted to storm the site immediately.
Drug cartels are literally mass producing methamphetamine in makeshift super labs and the business is thriving.
The main reason for this is that methamphetamine is made from completely legal products that are easily accessed. The profit margin is also extremely attractive to drug cartels. A kilo of methamphetamine can sell for 38,000 to 45,000 dollars in Asia and labs can produce a kilo for just 355 dollars pumping out 300 kilos a day. While professional chemists are hired to set up the labs, daily operations are usually run by less skilled “cooks,” who are told to follow the “recipe” written by the chemist.