The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Criminal Police Organization commonly known as Interpol to access and contribute to global criminal data records of 195 countries worldwide. NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd) signed for the Agency while the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of the National Central Bureau (NCB), who also serves as Interpol’s Africa, Vice President, Garba Umar signed on behalf of the global policy body.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by the Agency’s, Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
According to the statement, “Drug abuse also fuels criminalities because perpetrators either consume illicit substances or use proceeds to fund their nefarious criminal activities. As we are after the drug cartels and barons, we are not under the illusion that they won’t be after us but we are always steps ahead of them.
“This is why all security agencies must collaborate to fight the cartels, whether in Nigeria or anywhere in the world. We are, therefore, happy that the signing of this MoU allows us access to contribute and benefit from criminal data records of 195 countries globally”.
In his remarks, Umar applauded Marwa’s transformation of NDLEA and also stated that the Agency’s access to the global database would significantly improve the success of NDLEA’s operations.
