The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and India’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have agreed to intensify their collaborative efforts to combat the transnational trafficking of illicit drugs. the partnership is specifically aimed at curbing the illegal flow of opioids, such as tramadol and codeine-based syrup, from the South Asian country to Nigeria.
The agreement was reached on Wednesday in Abuja during a virtual meeting between the chairman of the NDLEA, retired Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa, and the director general of the NCB, Mr. Anurag Garg. in a statement, marwa emphasized the shared threat posed by illicit drugs to public health and security in both nations, highlighting the need to strengthen the existing partnership based on a memorandum of understanding (mou) signed by the two agencies in 2023.
The renewed commitment marks a significant step in the global fight against drug syndicates that operate without respect for international borders.
“The main reason why I requested for this engagement is the illicit importation of tramadol and codeine cough syrup into Nigeria from India.
“This is a point that I raised the day we signed the MoU.
“Now, in the last 18 months, that’s from January 2024 to June this year, we have seized over one billion pills of opioids mainly tramadol and more than 14.4 million bottles of codeine syrup.
“This is why we need the support and collaboration of the Narcotics Control Bureau of India to work with us on this,”he said.
The NDLEA boss also asked the NCB to assist NDLEA in specialised training.
Marwa said ” the other point from me is seeking your assistance on capacity building and training.
“We have had training in the past from India on drugs and investigation, training for analysts, financial investigation, cyber training, the dark web and so on.
“We will very much appreciate sharing from your experiences and knowledge and your support on training for our officers,” Marwa added.
In his response, the NCB boss Anurag Garg said it was essential for the two agencies to strengthen the existing partnership because the drug problem cuts across international borders.
Garg assured of their readiness to share knowledge, intelligence and experience with NDLEA on a number of areas of interest.
According to him, we all know that there are transnational syndicates involved in the illicit drug shipments into Nigeria but we’re ready to work with you on this.
“Unless we come together, we cannot end this malady because we’re dealing with transnational drug syndicates, they have no respect for borders, national laws.
“So, the only method as of now is to collaborate, and it is a good opportunity, I mean, this meeting, we can take this initiative forward,”he said.
On the issue of capacity building, Garg expressed happiness adding that the agency has a training centre to host the NDLEA for any training.
“I mean, as per your need, we can have a curated training programme through which we will be very happy to share whatever we know. Especially on the subject of clandestine labs or precursors or darknet monitoring or investigating darknet vendors and so on and so forth,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the meeting was done along with top officials of the two anti-narcotics agencies
