Mohamed Buba Marwa, chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has directed investigators and prosecutors to intensify efforts to trace, seize and recover proceeds and assets linked to narcotics trafficking.
Gatekeepers News reports that Marwa gave the directive on Wednesday in Abuja while declaring open an advanced capacity-building programme on financial investigations, asset tracing, forfeiture and recovery of proceeds and instrumentalities of drug trafficking and organised crime.
He said the fight against drug cartels could no longer be won through arrests and drug seizures alone, stressing the need to dismantle the financial structures that sustain criminal enterprises.
“The sophistication of organised crime demands a corresponding sophistication in our response,” Marwa said.
He urged the agency to move from simply detecting crimes and arresting offenders to disrupting criminal enterprises and depriving traffickers of the wealth that motivates and sustains their activities.
Marwa said drug trafficking is an economic enterprise sustained by financiers, facilitators, money launderers and other professional enablers operating behind drug shipments.
He also noted that criminal organisations are increasingly using technology, cryptocurrencies, complex corporate structures and legitimate businesses to conceal the ownership and origin of illicit wealth.
The NDLEA chairman therefore called on investigators and prosecutors to strengthen their ability to analyse complex financial transactions, trace assets across borders, establish beneficial ownership and use digital evidence to build cases capable of supporting forfeiture and recovery.
Marwa further directed stronger cooperation among the agency’s intelligence, investigation, prosecution, forensic, asset and financial investigation directorates.
He also called for closer collaboration between the NDLEA and other law enforcement and government institutions to address information and expertise gaps in tackling sophisticated criminal networks.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, who represented John Tsoho, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, commended the NDLEA for its efforts under Marwa and supported stronger cooperation between the judiciary and law enforcement agencies in the fight against organised crime.
