By Nkechi Eze
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has secured a 40-year prison sentence for a 38-year-old South African woman, Will Jessica Ann, over the importation of 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria.
According to an official statement signed by the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, the convict was arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, after 14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75kg were discovered in her luggage.
The agency said Ann allegedly concealed the illicit drugs in two checked-in bags and used her three-year-old son as a cover in an attempt to evade thorough security screening.
The arrest was made during the inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight QR 1433 from Doha to Abuja on Monday, July 6, 2026.
Babafemi said the suspect initially denied travelling with check-in luggage, but NDLEA officers established that two bags containing the drugs had tags corresponding with the claim tags attached to her passport.
She subsequently admitted ownership of the bags, claiming that she had forgotten she checked them in.
The convict, who reportedly travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja, was arraigned before Justice Obiora Atuegwu Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy to import 5.75kg of heroin and importation of the same quantity.
She pleaded guilty to both counts in suit FHC/ABJ/CR/422/2026.
In his judgment on Thursday, September 17, 2026, Justice Egwuatu convicted Ann and sentenced her to 15 years imprisonment on count one and 25 years on count two, bringing the total sentence to 40 years.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
The NDLEA said intelligence gathered during the investigation indicated that Ann was allegedly a member of a transnational drug trafficking organisation operating along the Cambodian-South African axis with her husband or partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager.
According to the agency, De Jager was arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 27, 2026, while allegedly attempting to traffic 3.2kg of illicit drugs to Hong Kong.
Reacting to the conviction, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), described the judgment as a firm demonstration of the Nigerian judiciary’s support for the agency’s fight against drug trafficking.
Marwa said the conviction would serve as a deterrent to transnational drug cartels seeking to use Nigeria as a transit or destination point for hard drugs.
He said the case further reinforced the agency’s position that Nigeria would not serve as a soft landing for international drug cartels, noting that the arrest of Ann’s alleged partner in South Africa barely three weeks after her arrest also underscored the importance of intelligence-sharing and collaboration with international partners.
The NDLEA chairman 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 agency would continue to strengthen airport interdiction, intelligence-led operations and international collaboration to dismantle transnational drug trafficking networks using Nigeria as a corridor.
Marwa stressed that anyone, regardless of nationality, caught trafficking illicit drugs through Nigerian territory would face the full weight of the law.
