National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) officers on patrol along the Aba-Owerri Expressway apprehended five pregnant teenage females suspected of being victims of child trafficking.
According to reports, the pregnant girls were apprehended while being transported from their refuge in the Naze district of Owerri to the Ikenegbu section of the Imo State capital.
In a statement issued on Sunday, NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi confirmed this.
The victims – Chioma Emmanuel, Uma Faith, Divine Adimonye, Opara Gift, and Amarachi Mbata – were rescued on Wednesday, according to Babafemi.
“In their statements, they claimed they didn’t know the men who impregnated them. The Imo state command of the agency has since been directed to hand them over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, for further investigations,” he added.
He stated that new attempts by members of some transnational drug trafficking organizations to export various quantities of methamphetamine and skunk through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, and courier companies in Lagos State were foiled by NDLEA operatives who intercepted the illicit drug consignments concealed in various items.
Similarly, on Tuesday, NDLEA agents stopped an intending passenger, Ugwu Tochukwu, on his way to Oman, when he attempted to board a Qatar Airways flight at Lagos International Airport. A comprehensive examination of his luggage revealed 7.50 kilograms of skunk hidden inside crayfish mixed with dry bitter herb.
This is despite the fact that some NDLEA officers from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations assigned to some courier companies intercepted 2.9 kilograms of skunk and 14 grammes of methamphetamine packed in semovita bags and the soles of ladies’ high heel shoes heading for Dubai.
“While two suspects Moses Akowe, 32, and Sunday Gabriel, 31, were arrested with 227.1 kgs of cannabis on Tuesday, September 11 at Ikebe village, Ankpa LGA, Kogi state, a female suspect, Bilikisu Salako, 35, was nabbed with 108 kgs of same substance on Saturday, September 16 in the Ifo area of Ogun State.
“A total of 100 blocks of cannabis weighing 55 kgs and 600 bottles of codeine-based syrup seized from the duo of Salisu Murtala and Shafi’u Dahiru on Tuesday, September 11 along Abuja road have been traced to two other suspects – Muntari Nasiru and Yusuf Ali who were arrested in follow up operations in Kano.”
