LIFESTYLE Culture

NDLEA Urges Global Action Against Drug Traffickers’ Proceeds

by admin on | 2026-08-26 11:54:15

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NDLEA Urges Global Action Against Drug Traffickers’ Proceeds

By Muhammad Bala Imam

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has urged stronger international efforts to seize drug traffickers’ criminal proceeds, saying arrests alone cannot dismantle trafficking networks or prevent illicit wealth from financing new operations.

NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), made the call at the 43rd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.

Marwa spoke during a session attended by judges, law enforcement chiefs, financial intelligence experts and academics. 

The Centre for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge organised the symposium.

Delivering a presentation titled “Criminal Property and the Criminal Process: How Can We Make It More Effective?”, Marwa said law enforcement must target the financial foundations of organised crime.

“The effectiveness of the criminal process should not be measured only by the number of convictions secured,” he said.

“It should also be measured by whether crime is made unprofitable.”

Marwa said traffickers who retain their wealth after arrest can use it to finance new operations and support criminal associates.

“The ultimate objective must therefore be to deny criminals the proceeds of their crime, promptly, and lawfully while preserving the value of the property,” he said.

Addressing the session chaired by Honourable Judge Wendy Tien, Marwa compared arrests without asset seizures to “pruning a weed at the stem while leaving its roots undisturbed”.

He warned that criminal wealth could later resurface “under a different name, through a different front company, in a different jurisdiction.”

Marwa outlined six strategies used by the NDLEA to strengthen asset recovery and financial disruption.

The agency relies on the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act 2004, the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2022, and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.

He cited the forfeiture of the Hook Hotel, a property linked to a fugitive drug suspect, as an example of Nigeria’s approach.

The property was recovered through non-conviction-based forfeiture and sold for $4.2 million. Marwa said the proceeds were paid into the Federal Government’s forfeited assets account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He said the case showed that a fugitive “cannot simply outrun the process and retain the benefit of his crime.”

The NDLEA has also integrated investigators and prosecutors from the beginning of cases, Marwa said. The reform has shortened the time between arrests and applications for restraint orders.

He disclosed that the agency froze bank accounts worth more than $7 million last month alone. It also secured interim forfeiture orders covering multibillion-naira assets.

The assets include filling stations, multi-storey buildings and exotic vehicles linked to a fugitive methamphetamine syndicate.

Marwa also highlighted the case of Nigerian billionaire and suspected drug baron Amadi Simon.

Authorities arrested Simon in Switzerland during a joint operation involving the NDLEA, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and authorities in Switzerland, Greece and France.

Marwa said three hotels linked to the suspect were placed under professional asset managers rather than closed. The measure aimed to preserve their value as going concerns while the trial proceeds.

The NDLEA also uses provisions concerning unexplained wealth and living beyond legitimate means as investigative triggers, he said.

The agency can also seek interlocutory sales of perishable or depreciating assets. Such measures seek to prevent assets from losing value before courts reach final decisions.

Marwa said Nigeria has incorporated these measures into its National Drug Control Master Plan 2026–2030.

The plan makes financial disruption of drug trafficking organisations a sustained national priority rather than a series of isolated enforcement actions.

However, he acknowledged continuing challenges in international asset recovery. These include delays in mutual legal assistance and limited forensic accounting capacity.

He also identified the need to balance the rights of accused persons with the state’s responsibility to preserve assets during criminal proceedings.

Marwa called for faster international cooperation and stronger cross-border recognition of non-conviction-based forfeiture orders.

He said the NDLEA’s approach rests on three principles: speed over sequence, preservation of value and institutionalisation.

Marwa reaffirmed the agency’s readiness to deepen cooperation with countries and institutions seeking to dismantle the financial structures supporting international drug trafficking.