• NDLEA freezes $7m accounts, targets billions in assets
The Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), has said drug barons cannot be considered defeated until their criminal wealth is taken away.
Marwa stated this while speaking at the 43rd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, organised by the Centre for Geopolitics, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Delivering a presentation titled, “Criminal Property and the Criminal Process: How Can We Make It More Effective?”, the NDLEA boss told an international gathering of judges, law enforcement chiefs, financial intelligence experts and academics that arrests and convictions alone were insufficient to dismantle drug trafficking networks.
He said, “The effectiveness of the criminal process should not be measured only by the number of convictions secured. It should also be measured by whether crime is made unprofitable.”
Marwa added that a trafficker who lost his freedom but retained his fortune had not truly been defeated, noting that such wealth could be used to finance fresh criminal operations and sustain 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.
According to him, arresting a trafficker without dismantling his financial empire was like “pruning a weed at the stem while leaving its roots undisturbed.”
He said such wealth could resurface through front companies, different names or other jurisdictions.
Marwa outlined six strategies being deployed by the NDLEA to strengthen asset recovery, backed by 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 recovery and sale of the Hook Hotel, a property linked to a fugitive drug suspect, as an example of the agency’s use of non-conviction-based forfeiture.
The property was sold for $4.2m, 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 escape justice simply by fleeing the country.
The NDLEA boss also disclosed that investigators and prosecutors had been embedded together from the beginning of cases, a measure he said had reduced the time required to secure restraint orders.
He revealed that the agency froze bank accounts containing more than $7m in the previous month and obtained interim forfeiture orders covering multibillion-naira assets allegedly linked to a fugitive methamphetamine syndicate.
The assets, according to him, included filling stations, multi-storey buildings and exotic vehicles.
Marwa also highlighted the case of Nigerian businessman, Amadi Simon, who was arrested in Switzerland in a joint operation involving the NDLEA, United States Drug Enforcement Administration and authorities in Switzerland, Greece and France.
He said three hotels allegedly linked to the suspect were placed under professional asset managers instead of being shut down, in order to preserve their value while the case was pending.
The NDLEA chairman further said the agency was using unexplained wealth and lifestyles beyond legitimate means as investigative triggers.
He added that perishable and depreciating assets could also be sold on an interlocutory basis to prevent them from losing value before the conclusion of trials.
According to Marwa, the strategy has now been incorporated into Nigeria’s National Drug Control Master Plan 2026–2030 to ensure that the financial disruption of drug cartels remains a sustained national priority.
He identified three principles guiding the agency’s approach: speed over sequence, preservation of value and institutionalisation.
Marwa, however, identified delays in mutual legal assistance, inadequate forensic accounting capacity and the need to balance the rights of accused persons with the government’s responsibility to preserve assets pending trial as some of the challenges facing the strategy.
He called for faster international cooperation and stronger cross-border recognition of non-conviction-based forfeiture orders.
The NDLEA boss reaffirmed the agency’s readiness to deepen collaboration with international jurisdictions and institutions committed to dismantling the financial structures sustaining drug trafficking.