The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 38-year-old South African woman, Ms. Will Jessica Ann, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, for allegedly attempting to smuggle 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria while using her three-year-old son as a cover to evade security scrutiny.
According to an official signed statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, the suspect was apprehended on Monday, July 6, 2026, during the inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight QR1433 from Doha.
Babafemi said the suspect initially denied travelling with any checked-in luggage, but NDLEA operatives established that two bags containing 14 large blocks of heroin bore baggage tags corresponding with the claim tags attached to her passport. She subsequently admitted ownership of the bags, claiming she had forgotten she checked them in.
Investigations revealed that the suspect travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja. Intelligence further indicated that she and her husband, Jan Coenraad De Jager, allegedly belong to a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Cambodia-South Africa route.
In a separate operation at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted a 48-year-old commercial motorcycle rider, Onyechere Daniel Chinadu, who arrived from Madagascar via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
According to the statement, a search of his checked-in backpack uncovered 87 wraps of methamphetamine concealed inside clothing. During interrogation, the suspect admitted he had worked as an Okada rider in the Oke-Afa area of Lagos for about 15 years before allegedly being recruited into drug trafficking by a Uganda-based associate.
He told investigators that he ingested additional methamphetamine pellets in Uganda before embarking on a journey to Madagascar to deliver the illicit consignment. However, he was denied entry into Madagascar by immigration authorities and was rerouted to Lagos by his sponsor, identified as Ozor Igo, where he was eventually arrested.
Unable to state the exact number of drug pellets he had swallowed, the suspect was placed under excretion observation for three days. Between the date of his arrest and July 1, he excreted 13 additional pellets, bringing the total recovery to 100 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.715 kilograms.
At the Apapa Seaport in Lagos, NDLEA, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, intercepted 8,287 nylon bags of Canadian Loud weighing 4,143.5 kilograms with an estimated street value of over ₦10.3 billion.
The seizure was made during a joint examination of a container imported from Montreal, Canada, on Friday, July 10, 2026, following weeks of intelligence-driven tracking by the Maritime Intelligence Unit of the NDLEA in collaboration with the Agency’s Apapa Strategic Command.
The Agency also foiled an attempt to export 2.5 kilograms of skunk, a strain of cannabis, concealed inside a gas compressor destined for Cyprus through a Lagos-based courier company. The interception was carried out by operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI).
Beyond enforcement operations, the NDLEA sustained its nationwide War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign, conducting sensitization programmes in schools and communities across Ebonyi, Kano, Ekiti and Ogun states. The leadership of the Agency’s Zone 14 Command also paid an advocacy visit to Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, at the Government House in Port Harcourt.
Commending officers and men of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Maritime Intelligence Unit and Apapa Commands for the successful arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), urged them to sustain the momentum in both drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction through the War Against Drug Abuse campaign.
“Your operational successes in disrupting drug trafficking networks must continue to be matched with sustained advocacy against drug abuse. Do not rest on your past laurels,” Marwa charged the officers.
