To Be Defeated, Drug Barons Must Lose Their Wealth, Marwa Declares at Cambridge
… Tells global experts how NDLEA uses asset recovery to dismantle drug trafficking networks
Oru Leonard
The Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), has declared that the fight against drug trafficking cannot be won through arrests and convictions alone, stressing that the financial assets and proceeds of crime must also be aggressively targeted.
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.
Addressing an international audience of judges, law enforcement chiefs, financial intelligence experts and academics, the NDLEA chairman said drug traffickers are not truly defeated if they retain the wealth generated from their illicit activities.
According to him, the effectiveness of the criminal justice process should not be measured solely by the number of convictions secured, but also by whether criminal activities have been rendered financially unprofitable.
“A trafficker who loses his liberty but retains his fortune has not truly been defeated. His wealth can finance another operation, support his associates and sustain the criminal enterprise,” Marwa said.
He stressed that the ultimate objective must be to lawfully and promptly deny criminals the proceeds of their crimes while preserving the value of recovered property.
Marwa likened arresting a drug trafficker without dismantling his financial empire to “pruning a weed at the stem while leaving its roots undisturbed,” warning that illicit wealth could resurface under different names, through front companies or in other jurisdictions.
He outlined six practical strategies being deployed by the NDLEA 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.
Among the examples he cited was the forfeiture of the Hook Hotel, a property linked to a fugitive drug suspect. The property 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.
Marwa said the case demonstrated that fleeing the country or evading arrest does not necessarily allow a suspect to retain the benefits of illicit activities.
The NDLEA boss also disclosed that investigators and prosecutors are now embedded together from the commencement of cases, a reform he said has helped shorten the period between arrests and the securing of restraint orders.
He revealed that in the previous month alone, the agency froze bank accounts containing more than $7 million 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 landmark case involving 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, Marwa said three hotels linked to the suspect were placed under professional asset managers.
Rather than shutting down the businesses, he explained, the measure was designed to preserve their value as going concerns pending the outcome of the trial.
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 prevent their value from being lost before the conclusion of legal proceedings.
He said the strategy has now been incorporated into Nigeria’s National Drug Control Master Plan 2026–2030, making the financial disruption of drug trafficking organisations a sustained national priority.
Summing up the NDLEA’s approach in three principles — speed over sequence, preservation of value and institutionalisation — Marwa acknowledged that significant challenges remain.
These, he said, include delays in mutual legal assistance, limited forensic accounting capacity and the need to balance the rights of accused persons with the responsibility of the state to preserve assets pending trial.
He therefore 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 Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime and the session chair, Honourable Judge Wendy Tien, for providing the platform.
He reaffirmed the NDLEA’s readiness to deepen collaboration with international jurisdictions and institutions committed to dismantling the financial architecture that sustains drug trafficking.
(NDLEA Media Headquarters Media, Abuja, Tuesday, August 25, 2026)
