Go After Cartels’ Money – Marwa Orders NDLEA

Brigadier General Buba Marwa (retd.), the Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has urged for a more effective financial offensive against drug cartels, stating that the agency must target the wealth and financial networks that support the illicit narcotics business.

Marwa said the fight against drug trafficking should no longer be assessed mainly on the number of suspects arrested or quantities of drugs intercepted, saying that criminal networks could quickly recover from such losses if their financiers and assets were left untouched.

He spoke in Abuja on Wednesday at the commencement of a specialized training for investigators and prosecutors on financial investigation, asset tracing and recovery.

Also the program is focused on forfeiture and the management of assets connected to drug trafficking and other organized crimes.

The NDLEA chairman said drug trafficking should be seen as a business revolving around financial gain, with networks that go beyond those physically caught transporting or selling narcotics.

“Financiers, money launderers, facilitators and other professionals who help criminals disguise or transfer illicit funds are critical to the survival of drug organisations,” he said.

So he told investigators to go after the money as well as the drugs.

“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,” said Marwa.

Stripping traffickers of their financial power would make it harder for criminal organizations to replace the drugs seized, recruit new members and finance further operations, he said.

Drug networks were becoming harder to track, said Marwa, as criminals increasingly turned to technology and sophisticated financial arrangements to hide their proceeds.

Investigators now had to deal with cryptocurrency transactions, complex corporate structures and legitimate businesses allegedly used to disguise the source and ownership of criminal assets, he said.

The development, he told, required a corresponding improvement in the technical capabilities of law enforcement officers.

Marwa said NDLEA personnel must be able to unravel complicated transactions, determine the real owners of assets, gather digital evidence and trace proceeds of crime beyond Nigeria’s borders.

“The sophistication of organized crime requires a corresponding sophistication in our response,” he said.

“We need to shift 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 NDLEA has made progress in intercepting narcotics and prosecuting suspects, but the next phase of the agency’s operations must focus on making the illicit drug business financially unattractive.

He said properties, bank balances and other benefits obtained from criminal activities should not be allowed to be kept by traffickers after their drugs had been confiscated.

The NDLEA chairman said successful enforcement should deny criminal networks the resources needed to rebuild their operations.

The agency’s goal, he said, was to make narcotics trafficking a venture where the risks far outweighed the potential profits.

Marwa also noted links between drug trafficking and other criminal activities, stating that drug networks often function as part of a larger ecosystem of organized crime.

Among crimes which could intersect with the narcotics trade he listed corruption, money laundering, cybercrime, human trafficking and illegal arms dealing.

“The ecosystem of drug trafficking is interlinked with money laundering, corruption, cybercrime, human trafficking, illicit arms trafficking and other forms of organized crime,” he said.

Such links made cooperation between different law enforcement institutions necessary, Marwa said.

He also urged for closer coordination within the NDLEA especially between officers in charge of intelligence, investigations, prosecutions, forensic analysis and financial and asset investigations.

He said intelligence collected by one department should feed into the work of others, rather than be isolated.

Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC), and the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) graced the program.

Institutions are important to be involved, Marwa said, because asset recovery requires cooperation between investigators, prosecutors and the judiciary.

Among those who were engaged for the training were recently retired Circuit Judge Michael Hopmeier of the Southwark Crown Court in the United Kingdom; former ICPC Chairman Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye (SAN); and the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN).

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Other participants were experts in cryptocurrency, money laundering and international asset recovery.

Marwa warned officers against mismanaging recovered property in addition to identifying and confiscating criminal assets.

He said an asset could lose a lot of value between the time it was seized and the time it was disposed of if it was not properly managed.

He added that mishandling recovered assets could also cast doubts on the integrity of the forfeiture process.

He therefore called for transparency at every stage including seizure, forfeiture, custody, management and eventual realization of recovered assets.

Marwa implored officers attending the training to share the gained expertise with colleagues and make sure the lessons were seen in future investigations.

The agency expected participants to be better able to trace suspicious transactions, locate hidden assets, develop stronger evidence and obtain forfeiture orders against drug traffickers, he said.

Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, also supported close collaboration between the judiciary and agencies fighting narcotics and financial crimes.

In a goodwill message delivered on his behalf by Justice Inyang Ekwo, Tsoho said the changing nature of drug-related offenses called for more sophisticated law enforcement techniques.

The scope of narcotics crime had broadened beyond traditional drug trafficking to areas like financial crime and cryptocurrency-enabled money laundering, he said.

The message said the training subject showed “how extensive and multifaceted drug crimes are and can be, and their ever-expanding frontiers, which ought to be tackled by effective and sophisticated law enforcement.”

Tsoho also praised the NDLEA leadership for its efforts against drug trafficking, saying stronger cooperation between the Federal High Court and law enforcement institutions could enhance Nigeria’s reputation in the international fight against organized crime.