National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the National Crime Agency (NCA) of Britain yesterday, reiterated commitment to taking the battle against drugs to the doorsteps of cartels, in renewed effort to stamp out organised crime in both nations.
The pledge was the highlight of remarks by Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd) and Regional Manager, West Africa, NCA, David Cater, at the signing of a renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two agencies, at NDLEA headquarters, Abuja.
According to Marwa, the MoU would engender high intelligence-driven operational strategy that would seek out the most complex organised criminal networks for prosecution.
He expressed hope on NCA’s upcoming project with the agency’s rebranded Criminal Intelligence Task Force (CITF), saying: “I look forward with great optimism to specialist capabilities this project would provide to CITF officials, to target and disrupt drug trafficking cartels in our country, the West Africa sub-region and beyond.”
He said: “Our overwhelming gratitude goes to the UK government for its continued technical support to the agency. Also, worthy of appreciation is the commendable efforts of dedicated UK NCA personnel, which, no doubt, have inspired the agency’s CITF officials with deepened enthusiasm to tackle serious organised crimes frontally.”
The NDLEA boss acknowledged that serious organised crime is a dynamic and complex phenomenon that does not recognise borders, thereby posing grave threat to life and property in both countries.
He added: “It is, therefore, imperative to aggressively seek proactive ways of managing intelligence and enhancing capabilities for disrupting transnational organised crime syndicates, thereby, justifying the need to sustain renewal of this MoU, which is another significant milestone in our collaborative efforts to combat organised criminal groups.”
In his remarks, Cater said renewing the MoU comes with great satisfaction and is significant to the good work of both agencies. According to him, the MoU would “enable us to take the battle to the enemies; that is, cartels. He expressed appreciation to the leadership of NDLEA for support and confidence reposed in the partnership, assuring that the ongoing project would continue to support the agency to succeed.
