Marwa: Nigeria’ll go after drug barons’ assets

Nigeria has restated its commitment in going after the assets of drug barons and traffickers in any part of the country.

Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (Retd), made the pledge in his presentation at the ongoing third committee session of the 76th United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, in New York, United States.

“Nigeria will remain undaunted in adopting dynamic strategies to counter new approaches adopted by organized criminals, in order to make drug trafficking unattractive while ensuring forfeiture of the criminally derived assets, a tested and powerful deterrent to the proliferation of drug crimes and criminalities,” he declared.

He added that “the Nigerian Government has exhibited political will by demonstrating high commitment to the protection of public health and safety with the launch of the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign, a call for civil action for all Nigerians to buy in and take full ownership of the fight against the menace of illicit drugs.”

On the successes of Nigeria’s drug war efforts, Marwa noted the recent seizure of 74.119kg of Captagon brand of Amphetamine, “presumably destined for use, to fuel insurgency and other violent crimes and criminalities, which Nigeria is currently grappling with.”

“Our consistent targeting of Drug Trafficking Organizations has resulted in the arrest of 8,634 suspected drug traffickers and the seizure of over N100 billion in cash and drugs within the first eight months of this year. Perpetrators will go through the criminal justice system, with their fundamental human rights, being strictly upheld,” the NDLEA boss stated.

Marwa said that the EU funded, UNODC sponsored Cannabis Cultivation Survey is expected to bring to the fore, the full extent of cannabis cultivation in Nigeria, and make it easier to target measures to contain this perennial menace.