The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retired), says Nigeria’s fight against drug trafficking must go beyond arrests and convictions to targeting the wealth that sustains criminal enterprises.
Marwa made the declaration while addressing an international gathering of judges, law enforcement chiefs, financial intelligence experts and academics at the 43rd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, organised by the Centre for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Speaking on the theme, “Criminal Property and the Criminal Process: How Can We Make It More Effective?”, the NDLEA boss said a trafficker who loses his freedom but keeps his fortune has not truly been defeated.
He said the effectiveness of the criminal justice system should not be judged only by the number of convictions secured, but also by whether criminal activity is made financially unprofitable.
According to Marwa, criminal wealth can finance fresh operations, support associates and keep trafficking networks alive even after the arrest of their members.
He likened arresting traffickers without dismantling their financial empire to “pruning a weed at the stem while leaving its roots undisturbed,” warning that illicit wealth could simply resurface through front companies, different names or other jurisdictions.
Marwa outlined six strategies being deployed by the NDLEA to strengthen asset tracing, recovery and forfeiture under the NDLEA Act 2004, the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2022 and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.
One major example, he said, is the forfeiture of the Hook Hotel, a property linked to a fugitive drug suspect. The property was recovered through non-conviction-based forfeiture and sold for 4.2 million dollars, with the proceeds paid into the Federal Government’s forfeited assets account with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Marwa said the case demonstrates that fugitives cannot simply escape the criminal justice process and continue to enjoy the proceeds of their alleged crimes.
He also disclosed that NDLEA investigators and prosecutors are now working together from the early stages of cases, helping to reduce the time between arrests and the securing of asset restraint orders.
According to him, the Agency froze bank accounts worth more than seven million dollars in July alone and secured interim forfeiture orders covering multibillion-naira assets, including filling stations, multi-storey buildings and exotic vehicles allegedly linked to a fugitive methamphetamine syndicate.
On the case involving Nigerian billionaire and suspected drug baron Amadi Simon, who was arrested in Switzerland in 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 shut down.
He explained that the approach was designed to preserve the hotels as going concerns and prevent their value from deteriorating while the case is pending before the courts.
The NDLEA Chairman also highlighted the use of unexplained wealth and lifestyles beyond legitimate means as investigative triggers, as well as the interlocutory sale of perishable or depreciating assets to preserve their value before final judgment.
He said the financial disruption of drug cartels has now been incorporated into Nigeria’s National Drug Control Master Plan 2026–2030, making asset recovery a sustained national strategy rather than a series of isolated operations.
Marwa identified three principles guiding the Agency’s approach: speed over sequence, preservation of value and institutionalisation.
He, however, acknowledged challenges including delays in mutual legal assistance, limited forensic accounting capacity and the need to strike a balance between the rights of accused persons and the State’s responsibility to preserve assets pending trial.
He called for faster international cooperation and stronger cross-border recognition of non-conviction-based forfeiture orders.
Marwa reaffirmed the NDLEA’s readiness to deepen collaboration with international jurisdictions and institutions in dismantling not only the operational networks of drug cartels, but also the financial architecture that keeps them in business.