A 38-year-old South African woman, Ms. Will Jessica Ann, has been convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison for importing 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria.
According to an NDLEA statement signed by Femi Babafemi, Director of Media and Advocacy at the agency’s Abuja headquarters, operatives arrested Ms. Ann at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) after discovering 14 large blocks of heroin concealed in her luggage.
She reportedly used her three‑year‑old son to try to circumvent security checks and avoid thorough screening.
The attempt was uncovered during inward clearance of passengers from Qatar Airways flight QR 1433, which arrived in Abuja from Doha on Monday, July 6, 2026. NDLEA officers initially faced resistance when she denied carrying checked baggage. After confirming that two checked bags matched the tags linked to her passport, officers confronted her and she admitted ownership, saying she had forgotten she checked the bags.
She claimed to have travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja. Intelligence leading to her arrest indicates she is a member of a transnational drug trafficking organization along with her husband/partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager, based in Cambodia from where they operate their drug network along the Cambodian-South African axis.
The husband has also since been arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 27, 2026 while attempting to traffic 3.2kg illicit drug to Hongkong.
Ms. Will Jessica Ann was subsequently arraigned on a two-count charge in suit FHC/ABJ/CR/422/2026 bordering on importation of 5.75kg heroin and conspiracy to import 5.75kg of heroin into Nigeria, offences to which she pleaded guilty before Justice Obiora Atuegwu Egwuatu of the Federal High Court Abuja.
Delivering his judgement on the matter on Thursday September 17, 2026, Justice Egwuatu convicted and sentenced Ms. Will Jessica Ann to 15 years in jail on Count 1 and 25 years on Count 2, bringing the total years of imprisonment to 40 years. The sentence will however run concurrently.
NDLEA Chairman Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.) welcomed the conviction as evidence of the judiciary’s support for the agency’s efforts. He said the ruling reinforces the NDLEA’s determination that Nigeria will not be a soft landing for international drug traffickers.
Marwa noted that the case reinforces the Agency's long-standing position that Nigeria will not serve as a soft landing for international drug cartels, stressing that the arrest of the convict's husband in South Africa barely three weeks later, while attempting a separate trafficking operation to Hong Kong, is clear evidence of the strength of intelligence-sharing and collaboration between NDLEA and its international partners.
He said the swift dispensation of justice in the matter, from arrest to conviction reflects the effectiveness of NDLEA's operations and its close working relationship with the Federal High Court.
He warned that the Agency will continue to strengthen airport interdiction, intelligence-led operations, and international collaboration to dismantle transnational drug trafficking networks using Nigeria as a corridor, adding that anyone, regardless of nationality, caught trafficking illicit drugs through Nigerian territory will face the full weight of the law.
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