Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), the Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, has emphasized that the recent overseas training of its officers will make it difficult for drug cartels to smuggle cocaine into Nigeria as they will be easily detected and apprehended.
In a statement released on Tuesday by NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, Marwa commended the training of two NDLEA officers abroad.
The report of the training, carried out by the NDLEA Director of Seaports Operations, Omolade Faboyede, was presented to Marwa.
Marwa stated, “Their enhanced ability to conduct underwater searches of ship hulls will undoubtedly deter global drug networks from attempting to smuggle large quantities of drugs into Nigeria, as they are now capable of thorough inspections of all ships and vessels entering the country.”
According to the statement, two officers from the NDLEA Marine Command were part of a group of eight officers selected from four countries by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for certification training in Bombinhas City, Brazil. The training took place in two phases: first in November 2023 and then in July 2024.
Marwa highlighted, “The recent training and certification of NDLEA’s Marine Command officers in basic diving, advanced open-water diving, and full-face mask diving will discourage the smuggling of large quantities of cocaine into Nigeria.”
Babafemi, quoting UNODC, explained that the diving training aimed to bolster the fight against drug trafficking and transnational crime activities in countries including Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, and Senegal.
“The subsequent phase of the training was to equip certified dive professionals in basic and advanced diving techniques for public safety diving, enabling them to perform ship hull searches, enforce laws, and maintain public safety in the battle against transnational drug trafficking,” he further elaborated.