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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (rtd.), has declared that the global war against drug trafficking cannot be won through arrests and convictions alone, insisting that drug barons must also be stripped of the wealth financing their criminal operations.
Marwa made the declaration 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, hosted by the Centre for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
The symposium brought together judges, law enforcement chiefs, financial intelligence experts and academics from across the world.
Marwa argued that securing convictions should not be regarded as the ultimate measure of success in the fight against organised crime, stressing that a trafficker who loses his freedom but retains his fortune has not been completely defeated.
According to him, such wealth could be used to finance fresh criminal operations, either directly or through associates and front companies.
Speaking before a session chaired by Honourable Judge Wendy Tien, the NDLEA chairman likened arresting a drug trafficker without confiscating his assets to cutting a weed at the stem while leaving its roots intact.
He said the criminal network could regenerate elsewhere if the financial foundation of the operation was not dismantled.
Marwa outlined six strategies adopted by the NDLEA to strengthen asset recovery, drawing on provisions of 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 he cited was the forfeiture of Hook Hotel, a property allegedly linked to a fugitive drug suspect.
He said the property was recovered through non-conviction-based forfeiture and subsequently sold for $4.2 million, with the proceeds remitted to the Federal Government’s forfeited assets account at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The NDLEA chairman also disclosed that investigators and prosecutors are now embedded together from the beginning of cases, a reform he said had accelerated the process of securing restraint orders.
He said the agency, just last month, froze bank accounts containing more than $7 million and secured interim forfeiture orders covering multibillion-naira assets, including filling stations, buildings and vehicles allegedly linked to a methamphetamine syndicate.
On the high-profile case involving Nigerian billionaire and suspected drug baron 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 had been placed under professional asset managers.
He explained that the decision was aimed at preserving the commercial value of the properties rather than shutting them down while the case remained before the courts.
Marwa identified unexplained-wealth provisions as an important investigative tool, while also highlighting the use of interlocutory sales of perishable assets to prevent them from losing value before the conclusion of trials.
According to him, the measures have now been incorporated into Nigeria’s National Drug Control Master Plan 2026–2030.
Summing up the NDLEA’s approach in three principles — speed over sequence, preservation of value and institutionalisation — Marwa acknowledged that challenges remained, particularly delays in mutual legal assistance and limited capacity for forensic accounting.
He called for faster international cooperation and broader recognition of non-conviction-based forfeiture across jurisdictions.
Marwa thanked the organisers of the symposium for providing the platform to share Nigeria’s experience in using financial investigations and asset recovery to weaken the economic foundations of drug trafficking.
