NDLEA Arrests South African Woman Using Toddler as Cover for Heroin Smuggling, Seizes N10.3bn Cannabis Shipment

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 38-year-old South African woman, identified as Jessica Ann Will, for allegedly attempting to smuggle 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria while using her three year old son as a cover to evade security scrutiny.

The arrest, alongside the interception of an alleged drug courier who excreted 100 wraps of methamphetamine and the seizure of cannabis valued at over N10.3 billion at the Lagos seaport, highlights the agency's sustained crackdown on international drug trafficking syndicates.

According to a statement issued by the Director of Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Femi Babafemi, the South African suspect was apprehended on July 6, 2026, during the inward clearance of passengers aboard Qatar Airways flight QR1433 from Doha at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

Babafemi disclosed that NDLEA operatives discovered 14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75 kilograms concealed in two pieces of luggage linked to the suspect.

He explained that the woman initially denied travelling with checked-in luggage, but investigators matched the baggage tags to claim tags attached to her passport. Faced with the evidence, she admitted ownership of the bags, claiming she had forgotten she checked them in.

The suspect reportedly told investigators she travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja. Intelligence gathered by the agency indicates that she and her husband, Jan Coenraad De Jager, are members of a transnational drug trafficking network operating between Cambodia and South Africa.

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

A search of his checked-in backpack led to the recovery of 87 wraps of methamphetamine concealed inside clothing.

During interrogation, Onyechere admitted he had worked as an Okada rider in Lagos for 15 years before allegedly being recruited into drug trafficking by a Uganda-based associate.

He claimed he ingested additional pellets of methamphetamine in Uganda before travelling to Madagascar, where he was denied entry by immigration authorities. His sponsor allegedly rerouted him to Lagos, where he was intercepted by NDLEA operatives.

Unable to determine the exact quantity of drugs he had swallowed, the suspect was placed under medical observation. Over a three-day period, he excreted 13 additional pellets, bringing the total recovery to 100 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.715 kilograms.

In another major breakthrough, NDLEA operatives, working jointly with officers of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, intercepted 8,287 nylon bags of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 4,143.5 kilograms at the Apapa Seaport in Lagos.

The illicit consignment, imported from Canada, has an estimated street value of over N10.3 billion.

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

The anti-narcotics agency also foiled an attempt to export 2.5 kilograms of skunk concealed inside a gas compressor destined for Cyprus through a courier company in Lagos.

Beyond enforcement, NDLEA said it continued its nationwide War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign with sensitisation programmes in schools, communities and public institutions across Ebonyi, Kano, Ekiti, Ogun and Rivers states.

Commending officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI), as well as the MMIA, NAIA, Maritime Intelligence Unit and Apapa Commands, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised their commitment to disrupting drug trafficking networks.

He urged personnel across the country to sustain the momentum by intensifying both drug supply reduction operations and public awareness campaigns aimed at preventing drug abuse.