By Nudoiba Ojen
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) operatives have rescued five pregnant teenage girls said to be victims of child trafficking in Imo State, South East Nigeria.
The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said the five girls said they did not know the men who impregnated them.
Babafemi said in a statement on Sunday that the five girls were believed to be used to produce babies for sale – “baby factory”.
Babafemi said, ” The girls were intercepted while they were being relocated from their hideout in the Naze area to the Ikenegbu area – all in Owerri, the state capital, on Wednesday.
“The girls claimed they did not know the men who impregnated them.
“The Imo State Command of the NDLEA has since been directed to hand them over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) for further investigations,” Mr Babafemi said.
According to the NDLEA spokesperson, the operatives were on their routine patrol along the Aba-Owerri Expressway when they intercepted the girls.
Babafemi added that the NDLEA operatives, in separate operations across Nigeria, intercepted and seized several illicit drug consignments at different airports and along some highways in the country.
