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.

The agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Mr Babafemi said the drugs were to be trafficked through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, and other courier companies in Lagos.

He said operatives of the agency intercepted the illicit drug consignments, concealed in different items, on Tuesday, September 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.

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 skunk.

Mr Babafemi said 14 grammes of methamphetamine concealed in bags of semovita and soles of ladies’ high-heeled shoes were also intercepted.

Similarly, operatives on patrol along the Aba-Owerri expressway in Imo on Wednesday, September 13, intercepted five pregnant teenage girls suspected to be victims of child trafficking used as a baby factory.

Mr Babafemi said they were picked up while being relocated from their hideout in the 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.

Mr Babafemi quoted the NDLEA chairman, retired Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa as commending officers and men of the MMIA and those of DOGI for intensifying their drug control efforts.

(NAN)