National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) operatives arrested a South African woman, Will Jessica Ann, 38, in Abuja July 6, saying they found 5.75 kilograms of heroin in her luggage.
NDLEA said operatives intercepted the suspect during the inward clearance of passengers from Qatar Airways flight QR1433, which arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) from Doha. The agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said officers found 14 blocks of heroin in her checked bags and that she had brought her three year old son along, which investigators believe she used to lower scrutiny at the checkpoint.
Babafemi said the suspect first denied checking in any luggage. Operatives matched baggage tags on the two bags to the claim tags on her passport, after which, he said, “she recounted and admitted ownership of the bags,” telling investigators she had forgotten she checked them in.
She told investigators she had traveled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja, according to the agency.
NDLEA said preliminary intelligence links the suspect to a transnational drug trafficking network she allegedly runs with her husband or partner, identified as Jan Coenraad De Jager, who is based in Cambodia. The agency described the pair as operating along a route between Cambodia and South Africa, though it gave no information on whether De Jager has been arrested or faces any charge.
The arrest was one of several operations NDLEA disclosed in the same Sunday statement. Agency officers working with Customs and other security agencies seized 8,287 nylon bags of a cannabis strain known as Canadian Loud, weighing more than 4,143 kilograms and valued above 10.3 billion naira, from a container at Apapa port in Lagos on July 10. In a separate case, NDLEA placed a 48 year old commercial motorcycle rider under observation for three days after he excreted 13 additional wraps of methamphetamine, bringing the total recovered from him to 100 wraps weighing 1.715 kilograms.
NDLEA chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa commended officers involved in the week’s operations and urged commands nationwide to sustain both enforcement and public awareness efforts against drug trafficking.
There is no indication yet that Will Jessica Ann has been formally charged, and neither she nor a lawyer representing her has issued a public response to the allegations.
