By Saminu Ibrahim
The Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), has charged investigators and prosecutors of the agency to intensify efforts to trace, seize and recover proceeds and instrumentalities of narcotics trafficking.
Marwa said the war against drug cartels could no longer be won through arrests and drug seizures alone, stressing the need to dismantle the financial structures that sustain organised criminal networks.
He spoke on Wednesday in Abuja while declaring open an Advanced Capacity Building Programme on Financial Investigations, Asset Tracing, Forfeiture, Recovery and Management of the Proceeds and Instrumentalities of Narcotics Trafficking and Related Organised Crime.
The NDLEA boss said drug trafficking was fundamentally an economic enterprise sustained by financiers, facilitators, money launderers and other professional enablers operating behind drug shipments.
“If we arrest the courier but leave the financier untouched, seize the drugs but allow the proceeds to remain with the criminal enterprise, or secure a conviction without recovering the illicit wealth, we have addressed only part of the problem,” he said.
Marwa noted that criminal organisations were increasingly deploying technology, cryptocurrencies, complex corporate structures and legitimate businesses to conceal the ownership and origins of illicit wealth.
He therefore urged NDLEA investigators and prosecutors to develop the capacity to analyse complex financial transactions, trace assets across borders, establish beneficial ownership, exploit digital evidence and build strong financial cases capable of supporting forfeiture and recovery.
According to him, the agency’s next priority, following significant progress in narcotics seizures and prosecution of traffickers, is to dismantle the economic foundations of the drug trade and make trafficking a “high-risk, low-profit enterprise.”
“The sophistication of organised crime demands a corresponding sophistication in our response. We must move from crime detection to crime disruption; from arresting offenders to dismantling criminal enterprises; and from confiscating drugs to depriving traffickers of the wealth that motivates and sustains their activities,” Marwa stated.
He further observed that drug trafficking intersects with money laundering, corruption, cybercrime, human trafficking, illicit arms trafficking and other forms of organised crime, making sustained cooperation among law enforcement institutions imperative.
Marwa called for stronger collaboration among the NDLEA’s intelligence, investigation, prosecution, forensics, asset and financial investigation directorates, stressing that they must operate as interconnected parts of a single enforcement chain.
He also advocated stronger inter-agency cooperation, noting that no single institution possesses all the information, expertise and capacity required to tackle sophisticated criminal networks.
The NDLEA chairman commended the calibre of resource persons at the programme, including recently retired Southwark Crown Court Circuit Judge, Michael Hopmeier; former ICPC Chairman, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, SAN; Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN; Global MLCFT Adviser, Calvin Wilson; Head of European Operations at Asset Reality, Jason Sandoval, and Nick Francis.
Others include cryptocurrency expert and Special Assistant to the President on Justice Sector Reform, Fernandez Marcus-Obiene, and crypto-police specialist, Chioma Chikelu.
Representatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), as well as judges of the Federal High Court, also participated in the programme.
Marwa stressed that asset recovery did not end with seizure or forfeiture, warning that poor management and lack of transparency could reduce the value of recovered assets and undermine public confidence.
He urged officers to ensure accountability and transparency from the point of seizure through forfeiture, management and eventual realisation of recovered assets.
The NDLEA chairman charged participants to treat the programme as an opportunity to strengthen the agency’s collective capacity, rather than as another routine training.
He expressed confidence that the participants would emerge better equipped to “follow the money,” identify illicit assets, strengthen evidence, secure forfeiture, preserve recovered value and ultimately deprive drug traffickers of the wealth sustaining their operations.
In a goodwill message delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, commended Marwa for the strides recorded by the NDLEA under his leadership.
Tsoho said stronger collaboration between the Federal High Court, NDLEA and other law enforcement agencies would enhance Nigeria’s standing in the international community.
He described the training as timely, noting that the growing sophistication and multifaceted nature of drug-related crimes, including cryptocurrency-enabled money laundering, required equally sophisticated law enforcement responses.
The Chief Judge also expressed support for continued institutional collaboration in financial investigation, asset tracing, recovery and management of proceeds and instrumentalities of narcotics trafficking and related crimes.
