A 38-year-old South African woman, Ms Will Jessica Ann, has been convicted and sentenced to a total of 40 years in prison for importing 5.75 kilogrammes of heroin into Nigeria.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said Ann was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, after operatives discovered 14 large blocks of heroin concealed in two pieces of luggage she brought into the country.
According to the NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the suspect attempted to use her three-year-old son as a cover to evade thorough security checks.
Ann arrived in Abuja aboard Qatar Airways flight QR 1433 from Doha on Monday, July 6, 2026. During the inward clearance of passengers, NDLEA operatives discovered that two bags containing the drugs had tags corresponding with the claim tags attached to her passport.
Babafemi said the suspect initially denied travelling with check-in luggage but later admitted ownership of the bags after the operatives established the connection between her passport and the luggage.
She reportedly told investigators that she had travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja.
The NDLEA said intelligence gathered after her arrest indicated that Ann was allegedly a member of a transnational drug trafficking organisation operating along the Cambodian-South African axis with her husband and partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager.
De Jager was subsequently arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 27, 2026, while allegedly attempting to traffic 3.2 kilogrammes of illicit drugs to Hong Kong.
Ann was arraigned before Justice Obiora Atuegwu Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on a two-count charge bordering on the importation of 5.75kg of heroin and conspiracy to import the substance into Nigeria.
She pleaded guilty to both charges.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, September 17, 2026, Justice Egwuatu convicted the defendant and sentenced her to 15 years imprisonment on the first count and 25 years on the second count, bringing the total sentence to 40 years.
The NDLEA, however, clarified that the sentences will run concurrently.
Reacting to the judgment, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), described the conviction as a demonstration of the judiciary’s support for the Agency’s efforts to combat drug trafficking.
Marwa said the judgment should serve as a deterrent to transnational drug cartels seeking to use Nigeria as a transit or destination point for illicit drugs.
He said the case reinforced the NDLEA’s position that Nigeria would not serve as a “soft landing” for international drug cartels.
According to him, the subsequent arrest of Ann’s husband in South Africa, barely three weeks after her arrest in Abuja, demonstrated the importance of intelligence-sharing and collaboration between the NDLEA and its international partners.
Marwa also said the swift conclusion of the case, from arrest to conviction, reflected the effectiveness of the Agency’s operations and its collaboration with the Federal High Court.
He warned that the NDLEA would continue to strengthen airport interdiction, intelligence-led operations and international cooperation to dismantle transnational drug trafficking networks using Nigeria as a corridor.
He added that anyone, irrespective of nationality, caught trafficking illicit drugs through Nigerian territory would face the full weight of the law.
