As part of efforts to eradicate drug cartels in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom, on Tuesday pledged to take the battles to the doorsteps of the cartels.
This was made known during the signing of a renewed Memorandum of Understanding, MoU between the two agencies at the NDLEA headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.
Speaking at the event, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), said that the upcoming project will give the agency’s rebranded Criminal Intelligence Task Force officials the opportunity to target and disrupt drug trafficking cartels in Nigeria, the West Africa sub-region and beyond.
He said, “This renewed MoU will definitely and inevitably propel High Intelligence Driven Operational Tentacles that will seek out the most complex organised criminal networks, no matter their hiding place to face the wrath of the Law.
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“Our overwhelming gratitude goes to the Government of the United Kingdom for its continued technical support to the Agency. Also worthy of appreciation is the commendable efforts of the dedicated UK NCA personnel which no doubt, has inspired the Agency’s CITF officials with deepened enthusiasm to tackle Serious Organized Crimes frontally.”
While acknowledging that serious organised crime is a dynamic and complex phenomenon that does not recognise borders thereby posing grave threat to lives and properties in both countries, the NDLEA boss said “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 the renewal of this memorandum of understanding which is another significant milestone in our collaborative efforts to combat organised criminal groups.”
On his part, the Regional Manager, West Africa, NCA, David Cater said renewing the MoU comes with great satisfaction and significant to the good work of both NDLEA and NCA. He said the renewed MoU will “enable us to take the battle to the enemies, that is, the cartels.”
He expressed appreciation to the leadership of NDLEA for the support and confidence reposed in the partnership, while assuring that the ongoing project will continue to support the Agency to succeed in its assignments.