NDLEA arrests South African woman using 3-year-old son as cover to smuggle heroin

Stanley Ihedigbo

National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has recorded a series of major anti-narcotics breakthroughs, arresting a South African woman who allegedly used her three-year-old son as a cover to smuggle heroin into Nigeria, intercepting an alleged drug courier who excreted 100 wraps of methamphetamine, and seizing cannabis valued at over N10.3 billion at the Apapa Seaport in Lagos.

The operations, carried out at airports, seaports and courier facilities across the country, underscore the agency’s sustained offensive against international drug trafficking syndicates and local narcotics networks.

According to a statement issued on Sunday by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the South African suspect, Ms. Will Jessica Ann, 38, was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, after officers discovered 14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75 kilograms concealed in her luggage.

The suspect was apprehended on Monday, July 6, 2026, during the inward clearance of passengers arriving aboard Qatar Airways flight QR1433 from Doha.
NDLEA said the woman initially denied checking in any luggage, but investigators quickly established that the baggage tags matched those attached to her passport. Faced with the evidence, she admitted ownership of the bags, claiming she had forgotten she checked them in.

She also disclosed that she travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja.
Further intelligence gathered by the agency revealed that the suspect allegedly belongs to a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating between Cambodia and South Africa, alongside her husband and partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager.

In another operation at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, NDLEA operatives arrested 48-year-old commercial motorcycle rider, Onyechere Daniel Chinadu, after his arrival from Madagascar via Addis Ababa aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight.

A search of his backpack led to the recovery of 87 wraps of methamphetamine hidden inside clothing.

During interrogation, the suspect told investigators 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 friend based in Uganda.

He claimed he ingested additional pellets of methamphetamine in Uganda before travelling to Madagascar to deliver the illicit consignment. However, he was denied entry by immigration authorities in Madagascar, prompting his sponsor, identified as Ozor Igo, to reroute him back to Lagos, where he was arrested.

Unable to specify the number of pellets he had swallowed, NDLEA placed him under medical observation for three days. Between 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 officers, working jointly with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, uncovered 8,287 nylon bags of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 4,143.5 kilograms with an estimated street value of over N10.3 billion.

The illicit consignment, imported from Canada, was discovered during a joint examination of a shipping container on Friday, July 10, 2026.

The agency said the seizure followed weeks of intelligence-led monitoring of the shipment from Montreal, Canada, by the Maritime Intelligence Unit in collaboration with the Apapa Strategic Command.

In a related operation, NDLEA operatives from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) thwarted an attempt to export 2.5 kilograms of skunk, another strain of cannabis, concealed inside a gas compressor destined for Cyprus through a Lagos-based courier company.

Beyond enforcement operations, the agency said it continued its nationwide War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign through sensitisation programmes in schools, communities, workplaces and places of worship.

During the past week, awareness lectures were held for students and staff of Nnodo Secondary School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State; Government Girls Secondary School, Sabon Gida, Sharada, Kano State; Royal Jesuit College, Agbado Ekiti; and Community Secondary School, Idofa, Ogun State.

The leadership of NDLEA Zone 14 Command also paid an advocacy visit to the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, at the Government House in Port Harcourt as part of efforts to strengthen collaboration against drug abuse.
Commending officers and personnel of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, MMIA, NAIA, Maritime Intelligence Unit and Apapa Commands for the successful operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd.), praised their commitment to reducing the supply of illicit drugs while sustaining public enlightenment under the WADA initiative.

Marwa urged the officers to remain vigilant and intensify efforts to dismantle drug trafficking networks across the country, stressing that the fight against illicit drugs must continue without complacency.