Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have rescued five pregnant teenagers suspected to be victims of child tracking while on a patrol along the Aba-Owerri Expressway in Imo State, South-East Nigeria.
This was made known in a statement by the NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, revealing that the victims were picked up while being relocated from their hideout in the Naze area of Owerri to the Ikenegbu area of the Imo State capital.
The victims – Chioma Emmanuel, Uma Faith, Divine Adimonye, Opara Gift, and Amarachi Mbata – were rescued on Wednesday, Babafemi stated.
The statement reads: “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 stated that new attempts by members of some transnational drug trafficking organisations 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 investigation of his luggage revealed 7.50 kilogrammes of skunk hidden inside crayfish mixed with dried 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 kilogrammes 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 apprehended with 227.1 kgs of cannabis on Tuesday, September 11 in Ikebe village, Ankpa LGA, Kogi state, a female suspect, Bilikisu Salako, 35, was apprehended with 108 kgs of the same substance on Saturday, September 16 in Ifo, 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,” the statement added.
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