A South African woman, Will Jessica Ann, has been convicted and sentenced to a total of 40 years in prison for importing 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria.
Ann, 38, 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.
The convict allegedly used her three-year-old son as a cover to evade thorough security screening.
However, during the inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight QR1433 from Doha to Abuja on Monday, July 6, 2026, NDLEA officers uncovered the concealment.
According to the NDLEA, Ann initially denied travelling with checked-in bags. However, after operatives established that the two bags containing the drugs had tags that tallied with the claim tags attached to her passport, she changed her account and admitted ownership of the bags, saying she had forgotten that she checked in the two bags.
She claimed to have travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja.
The NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed that intelligence that led to Ann’s arrest indicated that she was a member of a transnational drug trafficking organisation alongside her husband/partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager.
Babafemi noted that the organisation is based in Cambodia, from where the couple allegedly operates a drug trafficking network along the Cambodian-South African axis.
He also revealed that Ann’s husband was arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 27, 2026, while allegedly attempting to traffic 3.2 kilograms of illicit drugs to Hong Kong.
Will Jessica Ann was subsequently arraigned on a two-count charge in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CR/422/2026, bordering on the importation of 5.75 kilograms of heroin and conspiracy to import 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria.
She pleaded guilty to the charges before Justice Obiora Atuegwu Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Delivering judgment in the matter on Thursday, September 17, 2026, Justice Egwuatu convicted and sentenced Ann to 15 years in prison on count one and 25 years on count two, bringing the total sentence to 40 years. The sentences, however, will run concurrently.
Reacting to the conviction, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), described the judgment as a firm demonstration of the resolve of the Nigerian judiciary to support the Agency’s fight against drug trafficking and as a strong deterrent to transnational drug cartels seeking to use Nigeria as a transit or destination point for hard drugs.
Marwa stated that the case reinforces the Agency’s long-standing position that Nigeria will not serve as a soft landing for international drug cartels.
He stressed that the arrest of the convict’s husband in South Africa barely three weeks later, while allegedly attempting a separate trafficking operation to Hong Kong, was evidence of the strength of intelligence-sharing and collaboration between the NDLEA and its international partners.
Marwa added that the swift dispensation of justice in the matter, from arrest to conviction, reflected the effectiveness of the NDLEA’s operations and its close working relationship with the Federal High Court.
He also warned that the Agency would continue to strengthen airport interdiction, intelligence-led operations, and international collaboration to dismantle transnational drug trafficking networks using Nigeria as a corridor.
The NDLEA boss further warned that anyone, regardless of nationality, caught trafficking illicit drugs through Nigerian territory would face the full weight of the law.
