The Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd.), has charged investigators and prosecutors to intensify efforts to trace, seize and recover the proceeds and instrumentalities of narcotics trafficking, insisting that the war against drug cartels can no longer be won through arrests and seizures alone.

According to a statement by the NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, Marwa issued 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.

In his welcome remarks, the NDLEA boss noted that the depth of participation in 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.

“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 stated.

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 him, 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.

Marwa disclosed that, having made significant progress in seizing narcotics and prosecuting traffickers, the NDLEA’s next imperative 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 of intelligence, investigation, prosecution, forensics, and asset and financial investigation, describing them as interconnected links in a single enforcement chain that must work as one agency rather than in isolation.

He 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.

The NDLEA chairman commended the calibre of resource persons at the programme, including Hon. Judge Michael Hopmeier, recently retired Circuit Judge at Southwark Crown Court, UK; Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, SAN, former Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC); Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation; Calvin Wilson, Global MLCFT Adviser; Jason Sandoval, Head of European Operations at Asset Reality, and his colleague, Nick Francis; Fernandez Marcus-Obiene, cryptocurrency expert and Special Assistant to the President on Justice Sector Reform; and Chioma Chikelu, a crypto-police specialist, among other resource persons drawn from sister agencies.

He also welcomed the participation of representatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the ICPC and the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), as well as judges of the Federal High Court, describing their presence as strengthening 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 diminish the value of recovered assets and undermine public confidence in the recovery process.

He urged that accountability and transparency be preserved from seizure through forfeiture, management, and eventual realisation of assets.

He charged officers of the agency to see the programme not as another routine training but as an opportunity to strengthen the NDLEA’s collective capacity, stressing that knowledge gained must not remain within individual directorates but be shared and translated into coordinated action across the agency.

He expressed confidence that, at the end of the programme, participants would be better equipped to follow the money, identify assets, strengthen evidence, secure forfeiture, preserve recovered value, and ultimately deprive narcotics traffickers and organised criminal networks of the proceeds that fuel their operations.

In his goodwill message, delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo at the programme, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Hon. Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, commended Marwa for the great strides the agency has recorded under his leadership.

He added that collaboration between the Federal High Court, the NDLEA and other law enforcement agencies would put Nigeria in a good light in the international community.

According to him, “His Lordship, the Chief Judge, expresses his delight at being 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 cybercurrency-enabled money laundering.

“His Lordship is of the opinion 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 in a good light when it comes to law enforcement in the international community.” (The Nation)