A 38-year-old South African woman, Ms. Will Jessica Ann, has been convicted and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment for importing 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria.
Justice Obiora Atuegwu Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, handed down the sentence on Thursday, September 17, 2026.
Ms. Ann was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, after 14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75kg were found concealed in her luggage.
According to NDLEA, the convict had used her three-year-old son as a cover to evade security checks.
She was intercepted during inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight QR 1433 from Doha to Abuja on Monday, July 6, 2026. NDLEA said she initially denied travelling with check-in bags, but later admitted ownership after operatives matched the bag tags with claim tags on her passport, claiming she forgot she checked in the bags.
The Agency said intelligence revealed she is a member of a transnational drug trafficking organization along with her husband/partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager, based in Cambodia, where they operate along the Cambodian-South African axis. Her husband was also arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa on July 27, 2026, while attempting to traffic 3.2kg of illicit drugs to Hong Kong.
She was arraigned on a two-count charge in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CR/422/2026 bordering on importation of 5.75kg heroin and conspiracy to import the same. She pleaded guilty to both counts.
Justice Egwuatu convicted and sentenced her to 15 years on count one and 25 years on count two. The sentence will run concurrently, meaning she will serve 25 years in jail.
Reacting to the judgment, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), described it as a firm demonstration of the resolve of the judiciary to support the Agency’s war against drug trafficking.
Marwa said the conviction is a strong deterrent to transnational drug cartels seeking to use Nigeria as a transit or destination point.
“This case reinforces the Agency’s long-standing position that Nigeria will not serve as a soft landing for international drug cartels,” Marwa said.
He noted that the arrest of the convict’s husband in South Africa barely three weeks later is clear evidence of the strength of intelligence-sharing and collaboration between NDLEA and its international partners.
He added that the swift dispensation of justice, from arrest to conviction, reflects the effectiveness of NDLEA’s operations and its close working relationship with the Federal High Court, warning that anyone, regardless of nationality, caught trafficking illicit drugs through Nigerian territory will face the full weight of the law.
