Marwa charges NDLEA investigators: dismantle financial structures of drug cartels

• Chief Judge Tsoho commends NDLEA boss

From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The Chairman and Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), has charged the Agency’s investigators and prosecutors to intensify efforts at tracing, seizing, and recovering the proceeds and instrumentalities of narcotics trafficking, declaring that arrests and seizures alone can no longer win the war against drug cartels.

Marwa 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, held in Abuja.

In his welcome remarks, the NDLEA boss said the strong turnout at the programme reflected a shared understanding that drug trafficking is fundamentally an economic enterprise, sustained by financiers, facilitators, money launderers, and professional enablers operating behind every shipment.

“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 noted that criminal organisations are increasingly exploiting technology, cryptocurrencies, complex corporate structures, and legitimate businesses to conceal the ownership and origin of illicit wealth — and that the Agency’s response must evolve to match. Investigators and prosecutors, he said, must be equipped to analyse complex transactions, trace assets across borders, establish beneficial ownership, exploit digital evidence, and build financial cases strong enough to support forfeiture and recovery.

Marwa disclosed that with significant progress already made in seizing narcotics and prosecuting traffickers, the Agency’s next priority is dismantling the economic foundations of the drug trade — turning narcotics trafficking into a high-risk, low-profit enterprise.

“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,” he said, noting that drug trafficking intersects with money laundering, corruption, cybercrime, human trafficking, and illicit arms trafficking — intersections that make sustained cooperation, both within the NDLEA and among partner institutions, indispensable.

He called for stronger synergy among the Agency’s directorates — intelligence, investigation, prosecution, forensics, and asset and financial investigation — describing them as interconnected links in a single enforcement chain that must function as one Agency. He extended the same call to inter-agency collaboration, stressing that no single institution possesses all the information, expertise, or capacity needed to confront sophisticated criminal networks.

Marwa commended the calibre of resource persons at the programme, including retired UK Circuit Judge Michael Hopmeier; Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, SAN, former ICPC Chairman; Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation; global MLCFT advisor Calvin Wilson; Asset Reality’s Jason Sandoval and Nick Francis; cryptocurrency expert and presidential aide Fernandez Marcus-Obiene; and crypto-police specialist Chioma Chikelu, among others drawn from sister agencies.

He also welcomed representatives of the EFCC, ICPC, and the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), as well as judges of the Federal High Court, saying their presence strengthened the link between investigation, prosecution, and adjudication.
Marwa reminded participants that asset recovery does not end with seizure or forfeiture, warning that poor management and lack of transparency can erode the value of recovered assets and public confidence in the process. He urged that accountability be preserved at every stage — from seizure through forfeiture, management, and eventual realisation.

He charged officers to treat the programme not as routine training but as a chance to strengthen the Agency’s collective capacity, insisting that knowledge gained must be shared across directorates rather than kept in silos. He expressed confidence that participants would emerge better equipped to follow the money, identify assets, strengthen evidence, secure forfeiture, and ultimately deprive traffickers of the proceeds that sustain their operations.

In a goodwill message delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Hon. Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, commended Marwa for the strides recorded by the Agency under his leadership, adding that collaboration between the Federal High Court, the NDLEA, and other law enforcement agencies would put Nigeria in a good light within the international community.

“His Lordship… appreciates and commends you, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, for your commendable strides since the assumption of office,” the message read, describing the programme’s focus on financial investigation and asset recovery including cryptocurrency-enabled money laundering as evidence of how extensive and multifaceted drug crimes have become, and stressing that only effective, sophisticated law enforcement could keep pace.

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