By Kamil Opeyemi
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on patrol along the Aba-Owerri Expressway have intercepted five pregnant teenage girls suspected to be victims of child trafficking.
The victims according to the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday were picked up on Wednesday while being relocated from their hideout in the Naze area of Owerri to the Ikenegbu area of the Imo State capital.
He identified the victims as Chioma Emmanuel, 15; Uma Faith, 15; Divine Adimonye, 17; Opara Gift, 15 and Amarachi Mbata, 16.
“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, NAPTIP, for further investigations,” he stated
He said fresh attempts to export various quantities of methamphetamine and skunk by members of some transnational drug trafficking organisations through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja and courier companies in Lagos State, were again thwarted by operatives of the NDLEA, who intercepted the illicit drug consignments concealed in different items.
Similarly, on Tuesday, NDLEA operatives intercepted an intending passenger, Ugwu Tochukwu, on his way to Oman, while trying to board a Qatar Airways flight at the Lagos airport.
“Upon a thorough search of his luggage, 7.50 kilogrammes of skunk were discovered concealed inside crayfish mixed with dry bitter leaf,” he said
This is even as some NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations attached to some courier companies also intercepted Dubai-bound 2.9 kilogrammes of skunk and 14 grammes of methamphetamine concealed in bags of semovita and soles of ladies’ high heel shoes respectively.
While commending the officers in charge of the Successful operations, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) charged them not to relent in their efforts to get the country rid off drugs and other criminal activities.