By Ajibola Olaide, JKNewsMedia Reporter
INVESTIGATORS AND prosecutors of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have been charged to intensify efforts to trace, seize and recover the proceeds and instrumentalities of narcotics trafficking, as the Agency shifts focus towards dismantling the financial structures sustaining drug cartels.
JKNewsMedia.com reports that the Chairman and Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), said arrests and drug seizures alone could no longer win the war against narcotics trafficking.
He gave the charge on Wednesday, 2 September 2026, 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.
Marwa said drug trafficking was 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 said criminal organisations increasingly exploit technology, cryptocurrencies, complex corporate structures and legitimate businesses to conceal the ownership and origin of illicit wealth.
Marwa said the Agency’s response must evolve with equal sophistication, with investigators and prosecutors 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.
He said the NDLEA’s next imperative, after making significant progress in seizing narcotics and prosecuting traffickers, was 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,” Marwa said.
He added that the drug trafficking ecosystem intersects with money laundering, corruption, cybercrime, human trafficking, illicit arms trafficking and other forms of organised crime, making sustained cooperation within the NDLEA and among partner institutions indispensables.
The NDLEA chairman called for stronger synergy among the Agency’s Directorates of intelligence, investigation, prosecution, forensics, asset and financial investigation, describing them as interconnected links in one enforcement chain that must work as one Agency rather than in isolation.
He also called for stronger inter agency collaboration, saying no single institution possessed all the information, expertise or capacity required to confront sophisticated criminal networks.
Marwa commended the 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 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; Nick Francis; Fernandez Marcus Obiene, cryptocurrency expert and Special Assistant to the President on Justice Sector Reform; and Chioma Chikelu, a crypto police specialist.
He also welcomed representatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, alongside Judges of the Federal High Court.
Their participation, he said, strengthened the link between investigation, prosecution and adjudication.
JKNewsMedia.com also reports that Marwa reminded participants that asset recovery did not end with seizure or forfeiture, warning that poor management and lack of transparency could diminish the value of recovered assets and undermine public confidence in the recovery process.
He urged officers to preserve accountability and transparency from seizure through forfeiture, management and the eventual realisation of assets.
The NDLEA chief also urged participants to treat the programme as an opportunity to strengthen the Agency’s collective capacity rather than another routine training, stressing that knowledge gained must be shared and translated into coordinated action across the Agency.
Marwa further said he expected participants to emerge better equipped to follow the money, identify assets, strengthen evidence, secure forfeiture, preserve recovered value and deprive narcotics traffickers and organised criminal networks of the proceeds that fuel 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 NDLEA under his leadership.
Tsoho said collaboration between the Federal High Court, the NDLEA and other law enforcement agencies would put Nigeria in a proper spotlight in the international community.
“His Lordship believes that collaboration between the Federal High Court and law enforcement agencies, especially the NDLEA, will put this nation on a proper spotlight when it comes to law enforcement in the international circle,” the message stated.
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