Marwa orders investigators to intensify tracing, recovery of drug proceeds
Buba Marwa, chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has ordered the agency’s investigators and prosecutors to pursue the money behind narcotics trafficking by intensifying efforts to trace and recover the proceeds.
Marwa gave the directive in Abuja during an advanced capacity-building programme focused on financial investigations, asset tracing, forfeiture and recovery of proceeds linked to drug trafficking and organised crime.
A statement issued on Wednesday by Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said Marwa urged officers to shift greater attention to the financial networks that enable drug cartels to operate.
Marwa said arrests of traffickers and seizures of narcotics would have limited impact if the financiers and illicit wealth sustaining the trade remained untouched.
He said drug networks were becoming increasingly sophisticated, using technology, cryptocurrencies, corporate structures and legitimate businesses to disguise the ownership and movement of criminal proceeds.
The NDLEA chairman urged investigators and prosecutors to develop the expertise required to follow complex financial transactions, identify beneficial owners, track assets across borders and use digital evidence to build cases for forfeiture and recovery.
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.
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.”
Marwa also called for closer coordination among the NDLEA’s intelligence, investigation, prosecution, forensics, asset and financial investigation directorates.
He said cooperation with other law enforcement and government institutions was necessary to close information and expertise gaps in tackling sophisticated criminal networks.
The NDLEA chairman further cautioned that recovering illicit assets was not the end of the process, stressing the need for transparency and accountability in their management.
He urged officers to ensure proper documentation and accountability from the point of seizure through forfeiture, management and eventual realisation of recovered assets.
In a goodwill message delivered on behalf of John Tsoho, chief judge of the federal high court, Inyang Ekwo, a judge of the court, commended Marwa for the “strides” recorded by the NDLEA under his leadership.
Tsoho said sustained cooperation between the federal high court, NDLEA and other law enforcement agencies would enhance Nigeria’s reputation in the international community.