By Henry Ihimekpen
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday sentenced a 38-year-old South African woman to 40 years imprisonment for importing 5.75 kilogrammes of heroin into Nigeria using her three-year-old son as cover.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu convicted Ms Will Jessica Ann on two counts of importation and conspiracy to import heroin in charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/422/2026, to which she pleaded guilty.
The court sentenced her to 15 years on count one and 25 years on count two. The sentences will run concurrently, meaning she will effectively spend 25 years in jail.
Ann was arrested on July 6, 2026, by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) during inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight QR 1433 from Doha at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The NDLEA said she concealed 14 large blocks of heroin in two checked-in bags and travelled with her toddler to evade security screening.
According to the agency, she initially denied owning any checked luggage. Officers, however, linked two bags containing the drugs to her through baggage tags that tallied with claim tags attached to her passport.
She later admitted ownership, claiming she forgot she checked in the bags. She told investigators she flew in from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja.
Intelligence, the NDLEA said, shows she is a member of a transnational drug trafficking organisation operating along the Cambodian-South African axis with her husband and partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager.
De Jager, who is based in Cambodia, was arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 27, 2026, while attempting to traffic 3.2 kilogrammes of illicit drugs to Hong Kong.
Reacting to the conviction, the NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd), said the judgment demonstrates the judiciary’s resolve to support the agency’s war against drug trafficking.
Marwa said the conviction reinforces the agency’s position that Nigeria will not be a soft landing for international drug cartels.
He said the arrest of the convict’s partner three weeks after her arrest in Abuja underscores the strength of intelligence-sharing and collaboration between the NDLEA and its foreign partners.
He said the agency will continue to strengthen airport interdiction and international collaboration to dismantle trafficking networks using Nigeria as a corridor.
Marwa warned that anyone, regardless of nationality, caught trafficking illicit drugs through Nigeria will face the full weight of the law.
