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| Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) CON, OFR (m) flanked from left: Musa Ubale; Ahmad Tijani; Hamza Umar, Commandant, NDLEA Academy; Joseph Nbona Sunday, Director, Prosecution and Legal Services; Director General, Narcotics Control Bureau, NCB, of India Mr. Satya Narayan Pradhan and Mrs. Eucharia Ngozi Eze, Minister- Counsellor, High Commission of Nigeria, New Delhi with other officers of NCB after a bilateral meeting between NDLEA and NCB delegations in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday December 13, 2022. |
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says Nigeria has agreed to share vital intelligence on drug trafficking with India.
The countries agreed to share intelligence
on the activities of drug trafficking syndicates operating vulnerable drug
routes between both nations.
This is contained in a statement issued by
the NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi on Tuesday. According to the statement,
India also agreed to strengthen the capacity of NDLEA officers through training.
“This was part of recommendations and
agreements reached at the end of a two-day bilateral meeting held in New Delhi,
India between an NDLEA delegation led by its Chairman, Mohammed Buba Marwa, and
a delegation of the Indian Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), led by its Director
General, Satya Narayan Pradhan,” Femi said.
According to the statement, the meeting
also recommended the exchange of best practices in drug demand reduction and
sharing of real-time information on the involvement of the nationals of both
countries in drug trafficking as well as the conduct of joint operations.
They also agreed to hold another bilateral
meeting in Nigeria in 2023.
He explained that another key objective of
the meeting was the collaboration between NDLEA and NCB on how to control the
importation of tramadol above 100 mg as well as certain categories of
precursors into Nigeria.
Marwa underscored the importance of the
meeting to the global action against drug trafficking given the historical
antecedents of both countries, the commonality of language, legal systems,
population, and the existing robust trade relations.
He also reiterated the need for
strengthened collaboration between the two agencies in the fight against
illicit drug cultivation, production, and trafficking. Highlighting Nigeria’s
drug use and trafficking challenges, Marwa noted the increased national efforts
to adopt a balanced approach to addressing both the drug supply and demand
reduction.
He further underlined the importance of international cooperation and stakeholders’ engagement, adding that Nigeria has a “National Drug Control Master Plan as the veritable tool for drug control and enforcement, which has facilitated effective coordination at federal and state levels and 1s being encouraged at the local government level.”
Marwa also expressed the hope that a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would define the relationship between
the two agencies regarding information sharing, assets tracing, and forfeiture
of assets found to be connected to, and/or proceeds, of drug trafficking, would
be finalised soon.
However, Satya Narayan Pradhan of NCB, head
of the Indian delegation in his remarks, welcomed the delegations of both
countries for the meeting. He described drug trafficking through maritime and
air routes as a challenge for both countries.
Pradhan also elaborated on trends showing
the emergence of illicit drug trafficking through couriers, dark-net markets,
and social media platforms with a promise to share information about the latest
machinery and technologies to fight emerging threats.
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