By Chimezie Godfrey
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 38-year-old South African woman, Ms. Will Jessica Ann, for allegedly attempting to smuggle 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, using her three-year-old son as a cover to avoid security scrutiny.
According to a statement on Sunday by the Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the suspect was apprehended by NDLEA operatives on Monday, July 6, during the clearance of passengers arriving aboard Qatar Airways flight QR1433 from Doha.
Babafemi said the suspect initially denied travelling with any checked luggage but was linked to two suitcases after officers matched the baggage claim tags to those attached to her passport.
A search of the bags uncovered 14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75kg concealed inside the luggage.
The suspect later admitted ownership of the bags, claiming she had forgotten she checked them in. She told investigators she travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja.
According to NDLEA, intelligence findings indicate that she is a member of a transnational drug trafficking syndicate allegedly operated with her husband and partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager, based in Cambodia, with activities spanning the Cambodia–South Africa drug route.
In a separate operation, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, arrested a 48-year-old commercial motorcycle rider, Onyechere Daniel Chinadu, after he arrived from Madagascar via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
Babafemi said officers recovered 87 wraps of methamphetamine hidden inside clothing packed in the suspect’s backpack.
During interrogation, Chinadu reportedly said he had worked as an Okada rider in Lagos for about 15 years before a Uganda-based associate recruited him into drug trafficking.
He claimed he swallowed additional pellets of methamphetamine in Uganda before embarking on the journey to Madagascar but was denied entry by immigration authorities there. His alleged sponsor subsequently rerouted him to Lagos, where NDLEA operatives arrested him.
The agency placed the suspect under medical observation after he failed to disclose the quantity of drugs he had ingested. Over three days, he excreted 13 additional pellets, bringing the total seizure to 100 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.715kg.
At the Apapa Seaport in Lagos, NDLEA also intercepted 8,287 nylon bags of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 4,143.5kg with an estimated street value of more than N10.3 billion.
The seizure was made during a joint examination of a container imported from Canada by NDLEA officers, Nigeria Customs Service personnel and other security agencies on Friday, July 10.
Babafemi said the operation followed weeks of intelligence gathering, tracking and surveillance by the agency’s Maritime Intelligence Unit in collaboration with the Apapa Strategic Command.
In another operation, NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) foiled an attempt to export 2.5kg of skunk concealed inside a gas compressor destined for Cyprus through a Lagos-based courier company.
Beyond enforcement operations, the agency said it sustained its nationwide War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign through sensitisation programmes in schools, workplaces, communities and places of worship.
The campaign featured awareness lectures at Nnodo Secondary School in Abakaliki, Government Girls Secondary School in Kano, Royal Jesuit College in Agbado Ekiti and Community Secondary School in Idofa, Ogun State. NDLEA’s Zone 14 Command also paid an advocacy visit to Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara.
Commending officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, the MMIA, NAIA, Maritime Intelligence Unit and Apapa Commands, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised their operational successes and urged them to sustain the momentum in reducing drug supply while intensifying public sensitisation against drug abuse.
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