By Remi Adebayo
A 38-year-old South African lady, Ms. Will Jessica Ann has been convicted and sentenced to 40 years in jail for importing 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria.
The convict was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja after she was found to have concealed 14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75 kilograms in her luggage, using her three-year-old son as a cover to beat security checks and evade thorough screening.
Spokesperson of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.
He explained that Ms Will NDLEA officers unraveled her trick during the inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight QR 1433 from Doha to Abuja on Monday July 6, 2026.
He said Ms Will initially denied travelling with check-in bags, but after operatives established that the two bags containing the drugs had tags which tallied with the claim tags attached to her passport, she recounted and admitted ownership of the bags, claiming to have forgotten that she checked in the two bags.
The convict claimed to have travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja.
NDLEA said the intelligence leading to her arrest indicates that belonged to a transnational drug trafficking organisation 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 Hong Kong.
Will 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 27, 2026, Justice Egwuatu convicted and sentenced Ms. Will 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.
Reacting to the conviction, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), described the judgement as a firm demonstration of the resolve of the Nigerian judiciary to support the agency's war against drug trafficking and a strong deterrent to transnational drug cartels seeking to use Nigeria as a transit or destination point for hard drugs.
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.
He maintained that the arrest of the convict's husband in South Africa barely three weeks later was a clear evidence of the strength of intelligence-sharing and collaboration between NDLEA and its international partners.
The NDLEA's boss further 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.
Marwa added that anyone, regardless of nationality, caught trafficking illicit drugs through Nigerian territory will face the full weight of the law.
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