THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), popularly called HAWKS, have agreed to tackle drug trafficking between the two countries.
A statement released by the NDLEA on Monday said the agreement was the high point of discussions at a virtual meeting between the agency’s chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa and the National Head of DPCI SG Lebeya.
In his presentation, Marwa called for an operational Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to allow both agencies to share intelligence in real-time; engage in joint operations and personnel exchange programmes.
“Drugs destroy our youths both in Nigeria and South Africa. These drugs are peddled by syndicates across our two countries; this is why we need to partner and collaborate to dismantle their evil web and stop their criminal trade”, the NDLEA boss said.
Lebeya, in his remarks, agreed on all the areas of collaboration identified by Marwa.
According to him, “I agree with you on the places you have mentioned. We must collaborate on intelligence sharing in real-time. An exchange programme for our personnel is also another effective way of sharing knowledge.”
Other areas the meeting agreed on would be worked on by the technical teams set up at the close of the discussions, including confiscation of proceeds of crime and prosecution of suspects, among others.
NDLEA secretary Shadrach Haruna will lead the agency’s technical team that will work with its DPCI’s counterpart, headed by Alfred Khana, Head, Serious and Organised Crime Division of HAWKS, to fine-tune details of the MoU that will be signed at a later date.
A reporter with the ICIR
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