…as Marwa seeks support on intelligence sharing, capacity building
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of India have renewed their commitment to tackling the illegal shipment of opioids and other illicit drugs from India to Nigeria, following a high-level virtual meeting held on Wednesday, August 6, 2025.
The strategic engagement brought together the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), and the Director General of India’s NCB, Mr. Anurag Garg, along with senior officials from both anti-narcotics agencies.
The renewed partnership focuses on curbing the trafficking of opioids, particularly tramadol and codeine-based syrups, which continue to pose a serious threat to public health and security in Nigeria.
Marwa, while addressing the meeting, emphasized the urgent need for intensified cooperation, citing alarming seizure statistics over an 18-month period.
“From January 2024 to June 2025, we seized over one billion pills of opioids, primarily tramadol, and more than 14.4 million bottles of codeine syrup illegally imported from India.
“This scale of trafficking underscores the importance of our collaboration with NCB,” he said.
The NDLEA boss appealed to the Indian agency for increased support in intelligence sharing and specialized training for NDLEA personnel.
“We’re seeking your assistance on capacity building and technical training. We’ve benefitted from Indian training programmes in the past in drug investigations, financial crime analysis, cybercrime, and dark web monitoring and we’re keen to deepen this partnership,” Marwa noted.
Responding, Mr. Anurag Garg acknowledged the growing challenge of transnational drug syndicates, stressing that only a united front can dismantle such networks.
“Illicit drug trafficking has no regard for national borders or laws. The only way to confront this menace is through cooperation,” Garg stated.
“We are fully prepared to enhance intelligence exchange and offer tailored training programmes to support the NDLEA’s efforts.”
He also offered to facilitate NDLEA’s access to India’s specialized training centre for programmes on clandestine labs, precursor control, and darknet investigations.
The meeting builds on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the NDLEA and NCB in 2023, and marks a significant step forward in bilateral cooperation against international narcotics trafficking.
