Dismantle drug cartels’ financial structures, Marwa charges NDLEA investigators

The Chairman and Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig- Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), has charged investigators and prosecutors of the Agency to intensify efforts at tracing, seizing and recovering the proceeds and instrumentalities of narcotics trafficking.

Marwa, who gave the charge on 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, organised by the Agency in Abuja, noted that the war against drug cartels can no longer be won by arrests and seizures alone.

In his welcome address, the NDLEA boss noted that the depth of participation at the programme reflects a shared commitment to the understanding that drug trafficking is fundamentally an economic enterprise, sustained by financiers, facilitators, money launderers and professional enablers operating behind every drug shipment.

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“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.

He observed that criminal organisations are increasingly exploiting technology, cryptocurrencies, complex corporate structures and legitimate businesses to conceal the ownership and origin of illicit wealth, stressing that the Agency’s response must evolve with equal sophistication.

According to Marwa, NDLEA investigators and prosecutors must be equipped 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 disclosed that the NDLEA’s next imperative, having made significant progress in seizing narcotics and prosecuting traffickers, is to dismantle the economic foundations of the drug trade and make narcotics 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.

“The drug trafficking ecosystem intersects with money laundering, corruption, cybercrime, human trafficking, illicit arms trafficking and other forms of organised crime. These intersections make sustained cooperation, within the NDLEA and among our partner institutions, not merely desirable, but indispensable”, he stated.

He called for stronger synergy among the Agency’s Directorates: intelligence, investigation, prosecution, forensics, asset and financial investigation, describing them as interconnected links in one enforcement chain that must work as one Agency rather than in isolation.

The NDLEA boss extended the same call to inter-agency collaboration, noting that no single institution possesses all the information, expertise or capacity required to confront sophisticated criminal networks.

In his goodwill message delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo at the programme, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, commended Marwa for the great strides the Agency has been recording under his leadership, adding that collaboration between the Federal High Court and the NDLEA, as well as other law enforcement agencies, will put Nigeria in good standing in the international community.

According to him, “His Lordship, the Chief Judge, expresses his delight to be part of this programme, which is designed to strengthen institutional capacity in financial investigation, asset tracing for future recovery, and management of proceeds and instrumentalities of narcotic trafficking and related crimes, including cryptocurrency-enabled money laundering.

“He thinks that this topic shows how extensive and multifaceted drug crimes are and can be, and their ever-expanding frontiers, which ought to be tackled by effective and sophisticated law enforcement.

“His Lordship appreciates and commends you, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, for your commendable strides since the assumption of office as the Chairman and Chief Executive. His Lordship believes that collaboration between the Federal High Court and law enforcement agencies, especially the NDLEA, will put this nation on a proper spotlight when it comes to law enforcement in the international circle.“