South African Woman Bags 40 Years For Importing 5.75kg Heroin Into Nigeria

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 (NAIA), Abuja, after 14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75kg were discovered concealed in two of her luggage.

The NDLEA said the suspect attempted to use her three-year-old son as a cover to evade thorough security screening during her arrival in Nigeria.

According to the NDLEA, Ann arrived aboard Qatar Airways flight QR 1433 from Doha to Abuja on Monday, July 6, 2026, during the inward clearance of passengers when NDLEA officers uncovered the drugs.

The agency said the suspect initially denied travelling with checked-in luggage but changed her account after officers established that the tags on two bags containing the drugs tallied with the claim tags attached to her passport.

She subsequently admitted ownership of the bags, claiming that she had forgotten she checked them in.

Investigations, according to the NDLEA, showed that Ann travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja and was allegedly a member of a transnational drug trafficking organisation operating along the Cambodian-South African axis.

The agency also disclosed that her husband/partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager, was arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 27, 2026, while allegedly attempting to traffic 3.2kg of illicit drugs to Hong Kong.

Ann was later arraigned before Justice Obiora Atuegwu Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy to import and importation of 5.75kg of heroin in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CR/422/2026.

She pleaded guilty to both counts.

Delivering judgment on Thursday, Justice Egwuatu convicted Ann and sentenced her to 15 years imprisonment on count one and 25 years on count two, bringing the aggregate sentence to 40 years.

The court, however, ordered that the sentences should run concurrently.

Reacting to the judgment, chairman and chief executive officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), described the conviction as a demonstration of the judiciary’s support for the agency’s efforts to combat drug trafficking.

Marwa said the judgment should serve as a deterrent to international drug cartels seeking to use Nigeria as a transit or destination point for hard drugs.

He said the case reinforced the NDLEA’s position that Nigeria would not serve as a “soft landing” for international drug cartels.

The NDLEA chairman also linked the case to the subsequent arrest of Ann’s alleged partner in South Africa, saying it demonstrated the importance of intelligence-sharing and international cooperation in tackling transnational drug trafficking.

According to him, the arrest of De Jager barely three weeks after Ann’s apprehension, in connection with an alleged attempt to traffic drugs to Hong Kong, reflected the value of collaboration between the NDLEA and its international partners.

Marwa further said the swift progression of the case from arrest to conviction demonstrated the effectiveness of the agency’s operations and its working relationship with the Federal High Court.

He warned that the NDLEA would continue to strengthen interdiction efforts at airports, intelligence-led operations and international collaboration aimed at dismantling transnational drug trafficking networks operating through Nigeria.

He added that anyone, irrespective of nationality, caught trafficking illicit drugs through Nigerian territory would face the full weight of the law.