The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has thwarted attempts by members of some transnational drug trafficking organisations, to export various quantities of methamphetamine and skunk.
Spokesperson of the agency, Mr Femi Babafemi, said this in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi said that the drugs were to be trafficked through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA) Ikeja and other courier companies in Lagos.
He said that operatives of the agency intercepted the illicit drug consignments, concealed in different items on Tuesday, Sept. 12.
According to him, an intending passenger going to Oman, at the Lagos airport, Ugwu Tochukwu, was arrested while trying to board a Qatar Airways flight.
He added that upon a thorough search of his luggage, 7.50 kg of skunk were discovered concealed inside crayfish, mixed with dry bitter leaf.
Also in a related development, the NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI) attached to some courier companies, equally intercepted a Dubai-bound 2.9 kg of skunk.
Babafemi said that 14 grams of methamphetamine concealed in bags of semovita and soles of ladies’ high heeled shoes, were also intercepted respectively.
Similarly, operatives on patrol along Aba-Owerri expressway in Imo on Wednesday, Sept. 13, also intercepted five pregnant teenage girls suspected to be victims of child trafficking, used as baby factory.
Babafemi said that they were picked up while being relocated from their hideout in Naze area to the Ikenegbu area of the state capital.
“The victims included: 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 agency’s command in Imo, has since been directed to hand them over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP) , for further investigations, ” he said.
Babafemi quoted the NDLEA Chairman, retired Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa, as commending officers and men of the MMIA, as well as those of DOGI, for intensifying their drug control efforts.
He charged them not to relent and ensure the message on menace of drug abuse and illicit trafficking were curbed to the barest minimum.
Marwa applauded the commitment of all the commands across the country and urged them to work with other stakeholders to take the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation lectures and advocacy messages to the communities,
This, he said included schools, worship centres, work places and traditional institutions.
