To Defeat Drug Barons, We Must Seize Their Wealth, Marwa Tells Cambridge Symposium

 To Defeat Drug Barons, We Must Seize Their Wealth, Marwa Tells Cambridge Symposium

NDLEA Chairman highlights asset recovery, financial disruption as key strategies in fight against drug trafficking

The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), has called for stronger financial investigations and asset recovery measures to defeat drug trafficking networks, saying arresting offenders without taking away their illicit wealth leaves criminal enterprises intact.

Marwa made the call while delivering a presentation titled “Criminal Property and the Criminal Process: How Can We Make It More Effective?” at the ongoing 43rd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, organised by the Centre for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Speaking to an international audience comprising judges, law enforcement chiefs, financial intelligence experts and academics, Marwa said the success of the criminal justice system should not be measured solely by the number of arrests and convictions, but also by its ability to make crime unprofitable.

According to him, a drug trafficker who loses his freedom but retains his fortune has not been completely defeated because the wealth can be used to finance new criminal operations, support associates and sustain trafficking networks.

He said Nigeria, through the NDLEA, was strengthening its focus on denying criminals the proceeds of their crimes through lawful and timely asset recovery.

Marwa likened arresting traffickers without dismantling their financial base to “pruning a weed at the stem while leaving its roots undisturbed,” warning that illicit wealth could re-emerge under different names, front companies or jurisdictions.

The NDLEA chairman outlined six practical strategies being deployed by the agency to strengthen asset recovery, based 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 the agency's non-conviction-based forfeiture strategy. The property was recovered and sold for $4.2 million, with the proceeds paid into the Federal Government's forfeited assets account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Marwa said the development demonstrated that fugitives could not evade the criminal justice process while retaining the financial benefits of their alleged crimes.

He also disclosed that NDLEA investigators and prosecutors are now working together from the early stages of cases, a reform he said had reduced the time between arrests and the securing of restraint orders.

According to him, the agency froze bank accounts containing more than $7 million in the previous month 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 businessman Amadi Simon, who was arrested in Switzerland in a joint operation involving the NDLEA, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and authorities in Switzerland, Greece and France, Marwa said three hotels linked to the suspect were placed under professional asset managers.

He explained that the decision was taken to preserve the value of the properties as going concerns rather than allowing them to deteriorate while the legal proceedings continue.

Marwa further highlighted the use of unexplained wealth provisions and investigations into lifestyles allegedly beyond legitimate means as important tools for triggering financial investigations.

He also pointed to the interlocutory sale of perishable and depreciating assets as another strategy for preventing the erosion of asset values before final judgments are delivered.

The NDLEA chairman said the financial disruption of drug trafficking organisations had now been incorporated into Nigeria's National Drug Control Master Plan 2026–2030, making asset recovery a sustained component of the country's anti-drug strategy.

He distilled the agency's experience into three guiding principles: speed over sequence, preservation of value and institutionalisation.

However, Marwa acknowledged persistent challenges, including delays in mutual legal assistance, limited forensic accounting capacity and the need to balance the rights of accused persons with the responsibility of the state to preserve assets pending trial.

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

Marwa reaffirmed the NDLEA's commitment to strengthening partnerships with international jurisdictions and institutions in dismantling the financial infrastructure that enables drug trafficking networks to operate.

He also thanked the Centre for Geopolitics, the organisers of the Cambridge symposium and Judge Wendy Tien, who chaired the session, for providing the platform for the agency to share Nigeria's experience in using asset recovery as a weapon against organised crime.