The big Mexican cartels (Sinaloa and CJNG) have long tentacles which extend throughout the world. For one example, see what they’ve done in Ecuador.
A recent piece in Mexico’s Milenio provides examples of cartel drug labs set up in Europe, Asia and Africa. And these are just the ones that have been found.
They set the drug labs up in countries in those continents so they don’t have to export the drugs there, just as a corporation sets up manufacturing centers in other countries.
Just last month, in September 0f 2025, it was reported in Poland that a Sinaloa Cartel meth lab was discovered there. Three were detained there, including two Mexicans. The lab had “tons of chemical substances used for the production of the synthetic drug [meth] and hundreds of liters of narcotics and semi-finished products.”
There have been cartel labs found in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Spain.
In the continent of Africa, Mexican cartel meth labs have been found in Niger, Nigeria, Kenya, Mozambique and South Africa.
In Asia, Mexican cartel production facilities have been found in Malaysia (meth) and India (fentanyl).
Southeast Asian countries have very strict anti-drug laws. In 2008, three Mexican brothers, the Gonzalez Villarreal Brothers, were arrested. They had set up a meth production lab in that country. In 2012 they were sentenced to death, but in 2018 their sentences were commuted and in 2019 they were allowed to return to Mexico. Here’s a photo of the brothers upon their return to Culiacan, Sinaloa.
