NDLEA Must Go After Drug Cartels’ Financiers, Proceeds — Marwa

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba 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 said the fight against drug cartels could no longer be won through arrests and seizures alone, stressing the need to target the financial networks sustaining illicit drug businesses.

He 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 in Abuja.

In his welcome remarks, the NDLEA boss said the programme reflected 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 drug shipments.

“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 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.

According to him, the agency’s response must evolve with equal sophistication to effectively dismantle drug trafficking networks.
Marwa said NDLEA investigators and prosecutors must be equipped 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.