Dismantle drug cartels’ financial structures, Marwa charges NDLEA officials

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (retd.), 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 seizures alone, saying there is the need to dismantle the financial structures sustaining organised drug trafficking.

He spoke Wednesday 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 in Abuja.

The NDLEA boss described drug trafficking as an economic enterprise sustained by financiers, facilitators, money launderers and professional enablers operating behind drug shipments.

He warned that arresting couriers without going after financiers, or seizing drugs without recovering the proceeds of crime, would only address part of the problem.

“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,” Marwa said.

He noted that criminal organisations were increasingly exploiting technology, cryptocurrencies, complex corporate structures and legitimate businesses to conceal the ownership and origins of illicit wealth.

He urged investigators and prosecutors to develop the capacity to analyse complex transactions, trace assets across borders, establish beneficial ownership, exploit digital evidence and build financial cases capable of supporting forfeiture and recovery.

He said the agency’s next imperative, having recorded significant progress in narcotics seizures and prosecution, was to dismantle the economic foundations of the drug trade and make trafficking a high-risk, low-profit enterprise.

Marwa also called for stronger synergy among NDLEA directorates responsible for intelligence, investigation, prosecution, forensics, asset and financial investigation.

He stated that the directorates must operate as interconnected links in one enforcement chain, while urging greater collaboration with other law enforcement agencies.

The programme attracted representatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit and judges of the Federal High Court.

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.