BY: AYO AGBEOLUWAYE

The Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa, says the war against drug trafficking cannot be won through arrests alone.

Marwa made the declaration while speaking at the 43rd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom.

He told an international gathering of judges, law enforcement chiefs and financial experts that drug traffickers must be stripped of the proceeds of their crimes to effectively dismantle their criminal networks.

The NDLEA boss disclosed that the agency recently froze bank accounts worth more than seven million dollars and secured interim forfeiture orders covering multibillion-naira assets, including filling stations, buildings and exotic vehicles.

He also cited the recovery and sale of the Hook Hotel, linked to a fugitive drug suspect, for 4.2 million dollars through non-conviction-based forfeiture.

Marwa said NDLEA is strengthening asset recovery through closer collaboration between investigators and prosecutors, while preserving the value of seized assets pending court decisions.

He called for faster international cooperation and stronger cross-border recognition of forfeiture orders to dismantle the financial networks sustaining drug trafficking.