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Nigeria’s anti-narcotics agency has directed its investigators to intensify efforts at tracing and recovering the proceeds of drug trafficking, arguing that arrests and seizures alone are no longer sufficient to dismantle criminal networks.
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa gave the directive on Wednesday at the opening of a training programme on financial investigations and asset forfeiture in Abuja.
“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.
Marwa described drug trafficking as an economic enterprise sustained by financiers, facilitators and money launderers operating behind every shipment.
Criminal organisations are increasingly using technology, cryptocurrencies and complex corporate structures to conceal the origin of their wealth, he said, stressing that law enforcement must respond with similar sophistication.
NDLEA investigators must be equipped to analyse complex transactions, trace assets across borders and build financial cases capable of supporting forfeiture, Marwa added.
The NDLEA boss said the agency had made significant progress in seizing drugs and prosecuting traffickers, but its next priority must be dismantling the financial foundations of the drug trade.
“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,” he said.
“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 called for stronger coordination among the agency’s intelligence, investigation, prosecution and forensic directorates, describing them as parts of a single enforcement chain.
He also urged collaboration with other agencies, saying no single institution has all the information or capacity to confront sophisticated criminal networks.
Marwa warned that poor management of recovered assets could undermine public confidence in the process, urging that accountability and transparency be maintained from seizure through to forfeiture and disposal.
