Drug Barons Must Lose Their Wealth To Be Defeated, Marwa Tells Cambridge

By Adebola Muili

The Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), has declared that the war against drug trafficking cannot be won through arrests alone, stressing that traffickers must also be stripped of the wealth generated from their criminal activities.

Marwa made the declaration 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, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

He told an international audience comprising judges, law enforcement chiefs, financial intelligence experts and academics that the effectiveness of the criminal justice system should be measured not only by convictions, but also by its ability to make crime financially unprofitable.

“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 said.

He explained that a trafficker who loses his liberty but retains his fortune could use the wealth to finance another operation, support associates and sustain the criminal enterprise.

“The ultimate objective must therefore be to deny criminals the proceeds of their crime, promptly, and lawfully while preserving the value of the property. Nigeria, through the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, will continue to strengthen this approach,” he added.

Addressing the session chaired by Justice Wendy Tien, Marwa likened arresting a trafficker without dismantling his financial empire to “pruning a weed at the stem while leaving its roots undisturbed.”

He warned that proceeds of crime could resurface under different names, through front companies or in other jurisdictions if the financial structure sustaining criminal enterprises was not dismantled.

The NDLEA boss outlined six practical strategies deployed by the agency to strengthen asset recovery, anchored 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 asset recovery efforts.

According to him, the property was recovered through non-conviction-based forfeiture 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 case demonstrated that a fugitive could not simply evade the criminal process and retain the benefits of alleged criminal activities.

He also disclosed that NDLEA investigators and prosecutors are now embedded together from the inception of cases, a reform he said had reduced the interval between arrest and the securing of restraint orders.

According to him, the agency froze bank accounts worth more than $7 million last month 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 of Nigerian businessman Amadi Simon, arrested in Switzerland through 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 measure was adopted to preserve the value of the businesses as going concerns pending the outcome of the trial, rather than allowing the assets to deteriorate.

Marwa further highlighted the use of unexplained wealth and living beyond legitimate means as investigative triggers, as well as the interlocutory sale of perishable and depreciating assets to preserve their value ahead of final judgment.

He said the approach had now been institutionalised in Nigeria’s National Drug Control Master Plan 2026–2030, ensuring that financial disruption of drug cartels remained a sustained national priority.

Marwa identified three guiding principles behind the agency’s strategy: 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 balance the rights of accused persons with the State’s duty 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 readiness to deepen partnerships with jurisdictions and institutions committed to dismantling the financial architecture of drug trafficking.