A 38-year-old South African woman, Will Jessica Ann, has been sentenced to a total of 40 years in prison for importing 5.75 kilogrammes of heroin into Nigeria.
The convict was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, after 14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75kg were discovered concealed in her luggage.
According to the NDLEA, the woman allegedly attempted to use her three-year-old son as a cover to evade thorough security screening at the airport.
She was arrested on Monday, July 6, 2026, during the inward clearance of passengers aboard Qatar Airways flight QR 1433 from Doha to Abuja. She initially denied travelling with checked-in luggage, but operatives established that two bags containing the drugs bore tags matching the claim tags attached to her passport.
She subsequently admitted ownership of the bags, claiming that she had forgotten that she checked them in.
The NDLEA said intelligence gathered after her arrest indicated that Ann was a member of a transnational drug trafficking organisation operating along the Cambodian-South African axis, alongside her husband and alleged partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager.
De Jager was also arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 27, 2026, while allegedly attempting to traffic 3.2kg of illicit drugs to Hong Kong.
Ann was subsequently arraigned before Justice Obiora Atuegwu Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on a two-count charge in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CR/422/2026 bordering on the importation of 5.75kg of heroin and conspiracy to import the same quantity into Nigeria.
She pleaded guilty to both counts.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, September 17, 2026, Justice Egwuatu convicted Ann 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 sentences, however, are to run concurrently.
Reacting to the judgment, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), described the conviction as a demonstration of the Nigerian judiciary’s support for the Agency’s efforts to combat drug trafficking.
Marwa said the judgment would serve as a deterrent to transnational drug cartels seeking to use Nigeria as either a transit or destination point for hard drugs.
He said the case reinforced the NDLEA’s position that Nigeria would not provide a “soft landing” for international drug cartels, adding that the subsequent arrest of the convict’s husband in South Africa demonstrated the value of intelligence-sharing and international cooperation in tackling transnational drug trafficking.
According to him, the swift conclusion of the case, from arrest to conviction, also reflected the effectiveness of the Agency’s operations and its collaboration with the Federal High Court.
Marwa warned that the NDLEA would continue to strengthen airport interdiction, intelligence-led operations and international cooperation to dismantle drug trafficking networks operating across national borders.
He added that anyone, irrespective of nationality, caught trafficking illicit drugs through Nigerian territory would face the full weight of the law.
