Chairman and Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) has commended the German government over ongoing efforts to boost the operational capability of the Agency with a world-class narcotic detection dog training facility.
This was disclosed in a statement to the National Association of Online Security Reporters (NAOSRE) by Femi Babafemi Director, Media & Advocacy on Friday.
According to Femi, Marwa gave the commendation when Jan Ritterhoff, BKA liaison officer at the German Embassy in Nigeria paid him a visit to discuss modalities for the project’s take-off.
The NDLEA Chairman expressed appreciation for past supports to the agency especially in the areas of training, supply of drugs detection dogs, and vehicles, adding that the €2 Million dog training school being planned for the agency will further boost NDLEA’s operations.
Marwa said drug trafficking is a complex and dynamic crime, which demands that the agency must always be a step ahead of drug cartels. As such, he urged the German government to consider donating more dogs to the agency to be able to cover more areas of responsibility.
He stressed that through the support of the Germans, a total of over 26 major arrests and seizures of narcotic drugs including Cocaine, Heroin, Methamphetamine, Ephedrine and Cannabis with a combined weight of over 17.932 metric tons, were made by with the assistance of the narcotic detection dogs.
In his response, Ritterhoff commended Marwa for the great transformation he has brought to NDLEA as well as the strings of achievements especially in the areas of seizures and arrests within a very short time. He also expressed appreciation to Marwa for granting speedy approval for the project to commence.
He assured that the dog school project where more narcotic detection dogs will be deployed and groomed will be completed in phases between the next three to four years.
