The NDLEA chairman tells Cambridge experts that arrests alone cannot dismantle drug networks without targeting the assets that finance them

Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), Chairman and Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, told an international gathering at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom that Nigeria must go beyond arresting drug traffickers and systematically strip them of the wealth that sustains their criminal enterprises.

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Marwa made the call while delivering a presentation titled “Criminal Property and the Criminal Process: How Can We Make It More Effective?” at the 43rd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, where judges, law enforcement chiefs, financial intelligence experts and academics gathered to examine the fight against economic and organised crime. (NDLEA)

The NDLEA chief argued that the success of the criminal justice system should not be measured solely by convictions, but also by whether criminal activity is made 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 warned that a trafficker who loses his liberty while retaining his fortune could continue financing another operation, supporting associates and sustaining the wider criminal enterprise.

“A trafficker who loses his liberty but retains his fortune has not truly been defeated,” he said.

Marwa’s argument reflects an increasingly important element of Nigeria’s drug control strategy, in which financial investigations and asset recovery are being pursued alongside arrests and prosecutions.

The approach has been incorporated into the National Drug Control Master Plan 2026-2030, which places disruption of the illicit drug economy and the use of financial intelligence among the country’s strategic priorities. (NDLEA)

He likened arresting traffickers without dismantling their financial networks to “pruning a weed at the stem while leaving its roots undisturbed”, warning that illicit wealth could simply resurface under different names, through front companies or in other jurisdictions. (TheCable)

Marwa said the NDLEA has developed six practical approaches to strengthen asset recovery, relying 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.

One example he highlighted was the forfeiture of the Hook Hotel, a property linked to a fugitive drug suspect.

According to Marwa, the hotel was recovered through non-conviction-based forfeiture and subsequently sold for $4.2 million, with the proceeds paid into the Federal Government’s forfeited assets account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria. (NDLEA)

The case, he said, demonstrated that fleeing the country or remaining beyond the reach of investigators did not necessarily allow a suspect to retain the financial benefits of alleged criminal activity.

“A fugitive cannot simply outrun the process and retain the benefit of his crime,” Marwa said. (TheNewsGuru)

The agency has also changed how investigators and prosecutors work together, with both teams now involved from the early stages of cases.

Marwa said the arrangement had shortened the time between arrests and the securing of restraint orders over suspected criminal assets. (The Guardian Nigeria)

He disclosed that NDLEA investigators had frozen bank accounts containing more than $7 million in one month and obtained interim forfeiture orders covering assets worth billions of naira, including filling stations, multi-storey buildings and exotic vehicles allegedly linked to a fugitive methamphetamine syndicate. (NDLEA)

Marwa also referred to the agency’s investigation into Nigerian billionaire and suspected drug baron Amadi Simon, who was arrested in Switzerland in April following a joint operation involving the NDLEA, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and law enforcement authorities in Switzerland, France and Greece.

The multi-country investigation identified three hotels allegedly linked to Simon.

Rather than allowing the properties to lose value while the case proceeds, Marwa said the hotels were placed under professional asset managers so they could continue operating as going concerns pending the outcome of the trial.

The case illustrates the agency’s broader emphasis on preserving the value of suspected criminal assets rather than simply seizing properties and allowing them to deteriorate.

NDLEA investigations have also identified alleged shell companies, nominees and conventional and cryptocurrency accounts in connection with the Simon case. (TheStar)

Marwa said the agency was also using provisions concerning unexplained wealth and living beyond legitimate means as investigative triggers.

He highlighted the use of interlocutory sales for perishable or depreciating assets where necessary to prevent their value from being eroded before final judgment.

The approach, he said, was built around three principles: speed over sequence, preservation of value and institutionalisation.

The NDLEA chairman nevertheless acknowledged that significant obstacles remain.

Delays in mutual legal assistance, limited forensic accounting capacity and the difficulty of balancing the rights of accused persons with the state’s responsibility to preserve suspected criminal assets remain challenges.

He called for faster international cooperation mechanisms and stronger cross-border recognition of non-conviction-based forfeiture orders, particularly as drug trafficking networks increasingly operate across multiple jurisdictions.

The financial dimension of Nigeria’s drug control strategy has become more prominent as trafficking networks grow more sophisticated.

In May, the NDLEA said the new National Drug Control Master Plan 2026-2030 would address emerging threats including synthetic drugs, dark-web trafficking, polysubstance use and the illicit financial flows that sustain drug markets. (NDLEA)

International cooperation has also become central to the agency’s operations.

The arrest of Simon in Switzerland and the dismantling of other transnational networks have demonstrated the extent to which Nigerian investigators are increasingly working with foreign law enforcement agencies to follow suspects, money and assets across borders. (NDLEA)

For Marwa, the ultimate objective is therefore not simply to increase the number of arrests but to make the drug trade financially unsustainable.

“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 told the Cambridge gathering.

He said Nigeria would continue strengthening that approach while deepening partnerships with jurisdictions and institutions committed to dismantling the financial architecture supporting drug trafficking.

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As the illicit drug economy becomes increasingly international and financially sophisticated, Marwa’s message to the Cambridge symposium was clear: taking away a trafficker’s freedom may stop one individual, but taking away the wealth behind the operation can strike at the network itself.