The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), has charged investigators and prosecutors to go beyond arrests and drug seizures by tracing, recovering and dismantling the financial structures sustaining narcotics trafficking.
Marwa gave the charge on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, in Abuja while declaring open an advanced capacity-building programme on financial investigations, asset tracing, forfeiture, recovery and management of proceeds and instrumentalities of narcotics trafficking and related organised crime.
The NDLEA chairman said drug trafficking is fundamentally an economic enterprise sustained by financiers, facilitators, money launderers and professional enablers operating behind the movement of illicit drugs.
He warned that arresting couriers while leaving financiers untouched, or seizing narcotics without recovering the proceeds of crime, would amount to addressing only part of the problem.
According to him, organised criminal groups are increasingly deploying technology, cryptocurrencies, complex corporate structures and legitimate businesses to conceal the ownership and origin of illicit wealth, requiring law enforcement agencies to respond with equal sophistication.
Marwa said the NDLEA’s next imperative, following significant progress in narcotics seizures and prosecution of traffickers, was to dismantle the economic foundations of the drug trade and make trafficking a high-risk, low-profit enterprise.
He stressed the need for investigators and prosecutors to develop the capacity to analyse complex transactions, trace assets across borders, establish beneficial ownership, exploit digital evidence and build strong financial cases capable of supporting forfeiture and recovery.
“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,” Marwa said.
He also called for stronger cooperation among the NDLEA’s intelligence, investigation, prosecution, forensic, asset and financial investigation directorates, stressing that they must operate as interconnected links in a single enforcement chain.
Marwa equally urged greater collaboration among law enforcement and justice-sector institutions, noting that no single agency possesses all the information, expertise and capacity required to dismantle sophisticated criminal networks.
The programme attracted resource persons and participants from the Federal High Court, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and other sister agencies.
The NDLEA boss further cautioned that asset recovery does not end with seizure or forfeiture, stressing that poor management and lack of transparency could diminish the value of recovered assets and undermine public confidence.
He therefore urged officers to ensure accountability and transparency from the point of seizure through forfeiture, management and eventual realisation of recovered assets.
In a goodwill message delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, commended Marwa for the strides recorded by the NDLEA under his leadership.
Tsoho said collaboration between the Federal High Court, NDLEA and other law enforcement agencies would strengthen Nigeria’s fight against organised crime and enhance the country’s standing in the international community.
He described the training as timely, noting that the expanding frontiers of drug-related crimes, including cryptocurrency-enabled money laundering, require effective and sophisticated law enforcement responses.
The Chief Judge expressed confidence that closer collaboration between the judiciary and law enforcement agencies, particularly the NDLEA, would contribute significantly to strengthening Nigeria’s law enforcement architecture and projecting the country positively internationally.
