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The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), has declared that the global fight against drug trafficking cannot be won through arrests and convictions alone, stressing that drug barons must also be stripped of the proceeds of 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.
In a statement by the Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA boss told an international audience of judges, law enforcement chiefs, financial intelligence experts and academics that the effectiveness of the criminal justice process must also be measured by its ability to make crime 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. A trafficker who loses his liberty but retains his fortune has not truly been defeated,” Marwa said.
“His wealth can finance another operation, support his 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.”
Addressing the session chaired by Honourable Judge Wendy Tien, Marwa likened the arrest of a trafficker without dismantling his financial empire to “pruning a weed at the stem while leaving its roots undisturbed,” warning that such illicit wealth could resurface through other associates, front companies or jurisdictions.
He outlined six practical strategies deployed by the NDLEA to strengthen asset recovery, anchored on the NDLEA Act 2004, the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2022, and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.
Among the cases cited was the forfeiture of the Hook Hotel, a property linked to a fugitive drug suspect, which 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.
According to Marwa, the case demonstrated that a fugitive “cannot simply outrun the process and retain the benefit of his crime.”
The NDLEA boss also disclosed that investigators and prosecutors now work together from the inception of cases, a reform he said had shortened the time between arrest and the securing of restraint orders.
He revealed that in the last month alone, the Agency froze bank accounts containing over $7 million and secured interim forfeiture orders covering multibillion-naira assets, including filling stations, multi-storey buildings and exotic vehicles linked to a fugitive methamphetamine syndicate.
Marwa further highlighted the case of Nigerian billionaire and suspected drug baron, Amadi Simon, who was arrested in Switzerland through a joint operation involving the NDLEA, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and authorities in Switzerland, Greece and France.
He explained that three hotels linked to the suspect were placed under professional asset managers rather than shut down, in order to preserve their value as going concerns pending the outcome of the trial.
The NDLEA chairman also identified the use of provisions relating to unexplained wealth and lifestyles beyond legitimate means as a powerful investigative tool, alongside the interlocutory sale of perishable and depreciating assets to protect their value before final judgment.
He said the asset recovery approach had now been institutionalised in Nigeria’s National Drug Control Master Plan 2026–2030, ensuring that the financial disruption of drug cartels remains a sustained national priority.
Distilling Nigeria’s experience into three guiding principles—speed over sequence, preservation of value and institutionalisation—Marwa acknowledged persisting 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 responsibility to preserve assets pending trial.
He called for faster international cooperation mechanisms and stronger cross-border recognition of non-conviction-based forfeiture orders.
Marwa thanked the Centre for Geopolitics, the organisers of the symposium and Judge Tien for the platform, while reaffirming the NDLEA’s readiness to deepen partnerships with jurisdictions and institutions committed to dismantling the financial architecture of drug trafficking.
