The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) of Nigeria and India’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have agreed to intensify their collaborative efforts to combat drug trafficking between the two nations.
Their primary focus will be on stopping the flow of illicit opioids, such as tramadol and codeine-based syrups, from India into Nigeria.
This decision was reached during a virtual meeting held on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, between NDLEA Chairman/CEO, retired Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa, and NCB Director General, Anurag Garg, along with other top officials from both agencies.
According to a statement from NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, Marwa underscored the significant threat that illicit drugs pose to public health and security in both Nigeria and India.
He emphasized the importance of strengthening the partnership between the NDLEA and NCB, which is built on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that the two agencies signed in 2023.
Marwa said: “The main reason why I requested for this engagement is the illicit importation of tramadol and codeine cough syrup into Nigeria from India.
“This is a point that I raised the day we signed the MoU. Now, in the last 18 months, that’s from January 2024 to June this year, we have seized over one billion pills of opioids mainly tramadol and more than 14.4 million bottles of codeine syrup.
“This is why we need the support and collaboration of the Narcotics Control Bureau of India to work with us on this.”
The NDLEA boss also requested that the NCB should provide the NDLEA with specialized training assistance.
He said: “The other point from me, is seeking your assistance on capacity building and training. We have had training in the past from India on drugs and investigation, training for analysts, financial investigation, cyber training, the dark web and so on.
“We will very much appreciate sharing from your experiences and knowledge and your support on training for our officers.”
Responding, the NCB boss, Garg said it was essential for the two agencies to strengthen the existing partnership because the drug problem cuts across international borders, while assuring them of their readiness to share knowledge, intelligence, and experience with the NDLEA in a number of areas of interest.
He said: “We all know that there are transnational syndicates involved in the illicit drug shipments into Nigeria but we are ready to work with you on this.
“Unless we come together, we cannot end this malady because we are dealing with transnational drug syndicates, they have no respect for borders, national laws. So, the only method as of now is to collaborate, and it is a good opportunity, I mean, this meeting, we can take this initiative forward.
“On the issue of capacity building, we will be happy to offer you training. We have a training centre where we will be happy to host you for any training.
“I mean, as per your need, we can have a curated training programme through which we will be very happy to share whatever we know on the subject of clandestine labs or precursors or darknet monitoring or investigating darknet vendors and so on and so forth.”
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