In a renewed effort to tackle the illegal shipment of opioids and other narcotics, Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and India’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have agreed to deepen cooperation in intelligence sharing, joint operations, and capacity building.
The agreement was reached during a high-level virtual meeting held on Wednesday between NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), and NCB Director General, Mr. Anurag Garg, alongside senior officials from both agencies.
Speaking during the meeting, Gen. Marwa highlighted the alarming volume of illicit opioids intercepted in Nigeria, much of which originates from India.
“From January 2024 to June 2025, we have seized over one billion pills of opioids, mainly tramadol, and more than 14.4 million bottles of codeine syrup,” Marwa revealed.
“This underscores the urgency for strengthened collaboration with the NCB.”
Marwa emphasised the importance of intelligence sharing and appealed to the Indian agency for enhanced support in specialized training for NDLEA personnel.
He noted that previous training engagements with India have covered critical areas such as drug investigations, financial tracking, cybercrime, and dark web monitoring.
In response, NCB Chief Anurag Garg reaffirmed the bureau’s commitment to combating transnational drug trafficking.
“Unless we come together, we cannot end this malady. Transnational drug syndicates have no respect for borders or national laws,” Garg stated.
“This collaboration is a step in the right direction.”
He further offered to support NDLEA through tailored training programmes at NCB’s facilities, covering topics like clandestine laboratories, precursor chemicals, and darknet investigations.
The meeting follows the 2023 signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both agencies, aimed at fostering long-term cooperation in the global fight against drug trafficking.
