NDLEA rescues five pregnant girls from baby factory operators in Imo

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency on patrol along the Aba-Owerri Expressway have rescued five pregnant teenage girls suspected of being used in a baby factory.

The victims were picked up while being relocated from their hideout in the Naze area of Owerri to Ikenegbu area of the state capital.

The spokesperson for NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday explained further, “The victims include 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, for further investigations,” Babafemi added.

He added that 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, was again thwarted by operatives of the NDLEA, who intercepted the illicit drug consignments concealed in different items.

“At the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, September 12 intercepted an intending passenger, Ugwu Tochukwu, on his way to Oman, while trying to board a Qatar Airways flight. Upon a thorough search of his luggage, 7.50 kilogrammes of skunk were discovered concealed inside crayfish mixed with dry bitter leaf.

“In the same vein, 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 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,” Babafemi added.