Marwa Urges Increased Efforts Against Financiers, Enablers of

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mr Mohamed Marwa, has charged investigators and prosecutors in the agency to intensify efforts at tracing, seizing, and recovering the proceeds and instrumentalities of narcotics trafficking.

Mr Marwa gave the charge on Wednesday, 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, held in Abuja, noting that arrests and seizures alone can no longer win the war against drug cartels.

In his welcome remarks, the NDLEA boss said the strong turnout at the programme reflected a shared understanding that drug trafficking is fundamentally an economic enterprise, sustained by financiers, facilitators, money launderers, and professional enablers operating behind every 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 said.

He noted that criminal organisations are increasingly exploiting technology, cryptocurrencies, complex corporate structures, and legitimate businesses to conceal the ownership and origin of illicit wealth, and that the agency’s response must evolve to match.

The retired Brigadier General said that investigators and prosecutors must be equipped to analyse complex transactions, trace assets across borders, establish beneficial ownership, exploit digital evidence, and build financial cases strong enough to support forfeiture and recovery.

Mr Marwa disclosed that with significant progress already made in seizing narcotics…