Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) are closing in on a syndicate involved in a N30 billion money laundering scheme, The Nation has gathered.
The syndicate, it was gathered, involved a number of politically and financially exposed persons.
The perpetrators are suspected exporters of controlled drugs to the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
The syndicate is suspected of laundering the proceeds of drug dealing by creating complex layers of transactions using intermediary companies as a sham and mask to avoid recognition by law enforcement agencies.
“We are closing in on them. We are following the money and we will unveil them,” a source said.
On Wednesday, the chairman of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen Buba Marwa, said they had seized illicit drugs worth N80 billion in the past three months.
He said this when the acting Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, visited him at the NDLEA Headquarters in Abuja.
Marwa, who just reached 100 days in office, said over two million kilogrammes of various illicit drugs had been seized by the Agency within the period.
He said 2,100 persons were arrested and 350 convictions had been secured.
He said the need for the collaboration with the police was needed as the agency moves to its next phase of targeting the drug barons.
