Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Imo State recently conducted a patrol along Aba-Owerri Expressway and successfully rescued five pregnant teenage girls suspected to be victims of child trafficking, potentially used in a baby factory operation. These girls were apprehended while being relocated from their hideout in the Naze area of Owerri to the Ikenegbu area of the state capital. The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, provided this information in a statement on Sunday.
The teenagers, identified as Chioma Emmanuel (15), Uma Faith (15), Divine Adimonye (17), Opara Gift (15), and Amarachi Mbata (16), claimed in their statements that they didn’t know the men who impregnated them.
The rescue operation took place on September 13, 2023. The NDLEA has directed the Imo State Command to hand over the rescued teenagers to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for further investigation.
Additionally, the NDLEA thwarted attempts to export methamphetamine and skunk by members of transnational drug trafficking organizations. At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, operatives intercepted an individual named Ugwu Tochukwu, who was attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Oman. A search of his luggage revealed 7.50 kilograms of skunk concealed within crayfish mixed with dry bitter leaf.
NDLEA officers also intercepted 2.9 kilograms of skunk and 14 grams of methamphetamine bound for Dubai, concealed in bags of Semovita and the soles of ladies’ high heel shoes, respectively, at courier companies in Lagos.
In other drug-related arrests, two suspects, Moses Akowe (32) and Sunday Gabriel (31), were arrested with 227.1 kilograms of cannabis in Kogi State. A female suspect named Bilikisu Salako (35) was nabbed with 108 kilograms of the same substance in Ogun State. Additionally, a significant quantity of cannabis and codeine-based syrup was seized in various operations in Abuja and Kano.
Furthermore, a drug dealer named Segun Odeyemi was sentenced to five years in prison for trafficking and dealing in 3,842 kilograms of skunk. He was arrested while transporting 89 jumbo bags of the illicit substance in his truck around the Eleganza area of Ajah, Lekki. The case was presided over by Justice Akintayo Aluko at a Federal High Court in Lagos.