Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have seized 64,000 pump action gun cartridges and a new gun at a store located in Success Line, Marine Modern Market, Onitsha in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The discovery, which led to the arrest of an arms dealer, 34-year-old Donatus Onyemachi Igwebudu, followed credible intelligence on drugs and arms deal in the area. Backed by soldiers, NDLEA operatives stormed the store on Wednesday and moved the arm and ammunition to its office in Awka.
In another development, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Okene-Lokoja Expressway in Kogi State on Thursday intercepted 34 children between the ages of 8 and 14 being trafficked from Ijebu Ode, Ogun State to Abuja.
The minors packed in two commercial buses– Toyota Sienna and a 12-Seater Mazda with registration numbers Lagos LND124FV and Oyo BDJ-683YK–were recovered from the human trafficking syndicate.
The bus drivers confirmed that the kids were handed over to them by a woman at Ijebu Ode to be conveyed to Abuja, adding that on arrival in FCT, the woman was to call another bus driver who would convey the children to Riyom in Plateau State.
It was further revealed that the children were initially trafficked from Plateau State to Ijebu Ode, where they were distributed to different households as domestic servants. Some of the children were discovered to have served for two years and their rewards sent to the woman’s agent in Jos.
While commending the officers and men of Anambra and Kogi states commands of the NDLEA for their vigilance and preparedness to work in synergy with other security agencies in their areas of responsibility, Chairman and Chief Executive of the agency, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd) charged them to sustain the tempo.
He directed that the arm and ammunition, along with the suspect arrested in Anambra, be transferred to the police while the 34 trafficked children are to be transferred to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for further investigation.
