12.7.2026
A South African woman identified as Ms. Will Jessica Ann has been arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for allegedly using her three-year-old son as cover to smuggle in heroin.
According to the NDLEA Ms. Jessica Ann, 38, was caught in possession of 5.75 kilograms of heroin on July 6 during an inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight QR1433 from Doha to Abuja.
In a statement on Sunday, NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi said the woman had arrived with her three-year-old son and initially denied checking in any luggage.
The statement read, “Though she initially denied travelling with check-in bags, after operatives were able to quickly establish that the two bags containing the drugs had tags which tallied with the claim tags attached to her passport, she recanted and admitted ownership of the bags, adding that she forgot she checked in the two bags.”
The agency said preliminary intelligence suggested she was linked to a transnational drug trafficking network allegedly operating between Cambodia and South Africa.
NDLEA said intelligence reports indicate that the suspect is a member of a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Cambodia-South Africa axis with her husband and alleged accomplice, Jan Coenraad De Jager.
The agency disclosed that the arrest was one of several major operations carried out by its operatives across the country in recent days.
In Lagos the NDLEA also intercepted a 48-year-old commercial motorcyclist, Onyechere Daniel Chinadufor, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, after he arrived from Madagascar via Addis Ababa aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
According to NDLEA, a search of his backpack led to the recovery of 87 wraps of methamphetamine concealed in clothing, while he later excreted 13 additional pellets after being placed under observation, bringing the total to 100 wraps weighing 1.715 kilograms.
