Five pregnant teenage girls have been intercepted and rescued by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Imo State.
The five pregnant teenage girls, suspected to be victims of child trafficking were rescued by operatives on patrol along Aba-Owerri Expressway, last Wednesday.
This was stated in a release by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, detailing the activities of the anti-narcotics agency in the last one week.
The pregnant teenage, possibly being used in a baby factory, were picked up NDLEA operatives while being relocated from their hideout in Naze area to Ikenegbu area, both in Owerri, the state capital.
The rescued pregnant teenage girls included Chioma Emmanuel (15); Uma Faith (15); Divine Adimonye (17); Opara Gift (15); and Amarachi Mbata (16).
In their statements, the teenage girls claimed they didn’t know the men who impregnated them.
The Imo State command of the Agency has since been directed to hand the five pregnant teenage girls over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for further investigations.
Also, officers of the anti-narcotics agency at the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI) attached to some courier companies intercepted Dubai-bound 2.9 kilograms of skunk and 14 grams of methamphetamine.
The illicit drugs, Babafemi stated, were concealed in bags of semovita and soles of ladies’ high heel shoes, respectively.
Fresh attempts to export various quantities of methamphetamine and skunk by members of some transnational drug trafficking organisations have been thwarted by NDLEA.
The drugs, concealed in different items, were meant to be exported through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja and courier companies in Lagos.
Also, NDLEA operatives intercepted an intending passenger going to Oman, Ugwu Peter Tochukwu, at the Lagos Airport, last Tuesday.
Tochukwu, as stated in the release, was intercepted while trying to board a Qatar Airways flight.
“Upon a thorough search of his luggage, 7.50 kilograms of skunk were discovered concealed inside crayfish mixed with dry bitter leaf,” it was added.
Two suspects- Moses Akowe (32) and Sunday Gabriel (3), were caught with 227.1kgs of cannabis at Ikebe Village, Ankpa Local Government Area, Kogi State, last Tuesday.
Similarly, a female suspect, Bilikisu Salako (35), was nabbed with 108kgs of same substance on Saturday in Ifo area of Ogun State.
A total of 100 blocks of cannabis, weighing 55kgs, and 600 bottles of codeine-based syrup were seized from the duo of Salisu Murtala and Shafi’u Dahiru, last Tuesday along Abuja Road.
The illicit drugs have been traced to two other suspects namely, Muntari Nasiru and Yusuf Ali, who were arrested in follow up operations in Kano.
In FCT Abuja, 27-year-old Kingsley Chimaobi was arrested with 6,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup along Lokogoma-Abuja Road same Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a Federal High Court in Lagos, last Wednesday, sentenced a drug dealer, Segun Odeyemi, to five years imprisonment for trafficking and dealing in 3,842 kilograms of skunk.
“Odeyemi was arrested on Saturday 1 July 2023 while conveying 89 jumbo bags of the illicit substance in his truck around Eleganza area of Ajah, Lekki.
“He was subsequently charged in suit number FHC/L/388C/2023 presided over by Justice Akintayo Aluko,” Babafemi stated.
Across the country, various commands of NDLEA continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in the past week, taking advocacy messages to the stakeholders.
Instances of this include WADA advocacy visit to the head of Kadiria Islamic Sect of Africa, Sheikh Qaribullah Nasiru Kabara, in Kano;
WADA sensitisation lecture for men and officers of Nigerian Army, Sobi barracks, Ilorin; lecture for Muslim community in Kaduna;
WADA sensitisation lecture at Enugu State College of Health and Technology, Oji- River; advocacy lecture for members of Ram Sellers Association, Osogbo.
There was also a sensitisation lecture as well for officers and men of the Nigerian Navy School of Music, Ota, Ogun state, among others.
Chairman/CEO of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), has commended his officers and men in Imo State for rescuing the five pregnant teenage girls.
He also commended others at the MMIA, Kaduna, Ogun, Kogi, FCT and Lagos Commands as well as those of DOGI for intensifying their drug control efforts.
He applauded the commitment of all the commands to work with other stakeholders to take the WADA sensitisation lectures and advocacy messages to various communities, schools, worship centres, work places and traditional institutions.
The head of the anti-narcotics agency charged his officers and men not to relent, the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy added in the release.
