The Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), retired, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa on Wednesday justified the decision of the agency to go after assets of drug barons and traffickers.
Marwa said this in Abuja to begin a week-long activities to commemorate the 2024 International Day Against Drugs and Illicit Trafficking.
June 26 of every year is marked as Drugs Free with the theme of the 2024 World Drug Day (WDD) being: “Evidence is Clear, Let Us Invest in Prevention”.
Represented by the Secretary of the agency, Mr Shadrach Haruna, Marwa said the decision was part of ongoing offensive against illicit drugs peddlers and cartels in the industry.
He said the offensive against drug cartels and traffickers inaugurated in January 2021, has till date continued to yield the desired result with the arrests and prosecutions of several barons, adding that in April, two serial traffickers got life imprisonment.
According to him, our prosecution efforts have continued to achieve successes in courts given the painstaking investigations and diligence in the prosecution of cases.
“Our water tight case preparations are unassailable. This has been further strengthened with our forfeiture regime with the passage of Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA 2022).
“Aside from conviction, the assets of the convicts used as instrumentality of the crime or the proceeds derived from the crime are forfeited to the Federal Government.
“Indeed, a civil action in rem could be maintained against assets reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime in which case the burden of proving the lawful origin of the asset will be on the defendant, who claims ownership of the asset.”
