December 13, (THEWILL) – Nigeria and India have agreed to share intelligence on the activities of drug trafficking syndicates.
This was disclosed in a Tuesday statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Femi Babafemi.
Babafemi said the agreement was reached at the end of a two-day bilateral meeting held in New Delhi, India between a delegation of the NDLEA, led by its Chairman Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) and its India counterpart, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), led by its Director General, Satya Narayan Pradhan.
Under the agreement, India is expected to train NDLEA officers to strengthen their capacity.
“The meeting also recommended the exchange of best practices in drug demand reduction and sharing of real-time information on the involvement of nationals of both countries in drug trafficking as well as conducting joint operations, while agreeing to hold another bilateral meeting in Nigeria in 2023. Another key objective of the India meeting was the collaboration between NDLEA and NCB on how to control the importation of tramadol above 100mg as well as certain categories of precursors into Nigeria”, he said.
In his presentation, Marwa underscored the importance of the meeting to the global action against drug trafficking considering the preceding history of both countries, which cut across language, legal systems, population and trade relations. He 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, the NDLEA boss noted the increased national efforts to adopt a balanced approach to addressing the drug supply and demand a balanced approach to addressing both the drug supply and demands 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 is being encouraged at the local government level.
“He expressed the hope that a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, would define the relationship between the two agencies with reference to information sharing, assets tracing and forfeiture of assets found to be connected to, and/or proceeds, of drug trafficking, would be finalised soon”, the agency stated
In his remarks, Pradhan of NCB, highlighted the issues around the trafficking of Heroin and Amphetamine Type Stimulants (ATS) in the country, adding that drug trafficking through maritime and air routes is a challenge for both countries.
About the Author
