National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in collaboration with the government of Germany on Tuesday agreed to fast-track the fight against illicit drug trafficking, cyber crime and other trans- national crimes in Nigeria and West Africa through the exchange of intelligence information, training for law enforcement officials and donation of drug detecting equipment at airports spread across the country.

Vice President of the German Federal Criminal Investigation Office, Professor Juergen Stock, made this known at the Murtala Muhammed Intermnational Airport office of the anti-narcortics agency.

The German who paid a working visit to the Nigerian anti- drug agency, said the German government deemed it necessary to forge closer ties with Nigeria, because of the seriousness exhibited by the NDLEA in the past few years on the war against drug and other illicit activities.

Stock said that because no country could do it all alone, there was need for global exchange of intelligence and other relevant training to track the movement of hard drugs and other dangerous substance that constitute grave danger to human health.

He said the German government would assist Nigeria not only in the drug war but also in fighting the importation of counterfeit drugs into the country, kidnapping and other illegal activities that inhibit development.

"We are in Nigeria to pay a working visit, which is aimed at exchange of information, intelligence gathering, training programmes and other areas where we could learn how to pull down intimidation drug catrels that dominate the illicit business between Europe, Asia , South America and Africa.

We are doing this because we belive no country could do it all alone. Only global collaboration through networking could address the drug challenge. That is why we continue to forge stronger and closer ties through a multi lateral approach with our partners, for which Nigeria stands out in West Africa.

We are convinced that stronger partnerships, expertise as well as technology will assist law enforcement agencies in tracking criminal activities," Stock said.

He spoke of the impressive efforts by the NDLEA to stamp out drug trafficking in Nigeria, adding that through closer ties with the International Police Organisation (Interpol), incidence of trans -border car theft, cyber crime has been drastically reduced in the West African sub region.

In his remarks, the Director-General of NDLEA, Otunba Lanre Ipinmisho lauded the assistance of the German government in providing working materials like sniffer dogs, which have assisted NDLEA in the anti- drug war.

Ipinmisho also spoke of plans to install scanners at airports across the country to detect hard drugs and psychotropic substances by passengers who are either in bound or outbound.

He said that the NDLEA has proposed to the Federal Government arrangements to destroy hard drugs seized by the agency with incinerators, because of the concerns of environmental pollution raised by some groups.

He said: "The visit by the German delegation will not only boost our relationship for better understanding but will motivate both countries for greater results in the areas of mutual interests such as crime control and prevention.