The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has uncovered a suspected transnational drug trafficking network after arresting a South African woman who allegedly used her three-year-old son as cover to smuggle heroin into Nigeria, while also intercepting illicit drugs worth over ₦10.3 billion in a series of coordinated operations across the country.
In a statement issued on Sunday, July 12, 2026, the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the 38-year-old suspect, Jessica Ann Will, was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, after operatives discovered 14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75 kilograms concealed in her luggage.
According to Babafemi, the suspect arrived aboard Qatar Airways flight QR1433 from Doha on Monday, July 6, accompanied by her three-year-old son in what investigators believe was an attempt to avoid suspicion during security screening.
He explained that the woman initially denied checking in any luggage but later admitted ownership after NDLEA operatives matched the baggage tags to those attached to her passport.
“Though she initially denied travelling with check-in bags, after operatives established that the two bags containing the drugs had tags tallying with the claim tags attached to her passport, she admitted ownership of the bags, claiming she forgot she had checked them in,” Babafemi said.
He disclosed that the suspect claimed she travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja, adding that intelligence gathered by the agency indicates she belongs to a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Cambodian-South African corridor alongside her husband and alleged accomplice, Jan Coenraad De Jager.
In another operation at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, NDLEA operatives arrested a 48-year-old commercial motorcycle rider, Onyechere Daniel Chinadu, after his arrival from Madagascar via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
Babafemi said a search of the suspect’s backpack uncovered 87 wraps of methamphetamine concealed inside clothing.
During interrogation, the suspect reportedly admitted he had worked as an Okada rider in Lagos for about 15 years before a Uganda-based associate recruited him into drug trafficking.
“He stated that he ingested additional pellets of methamphetamine in Uganda before embarking on the trip to Madagascar to deliver the consignment,” Babafemi said.
According to the agency, immigration authorities in Madagascar denied him entry, forcing his sponsor, identified as Ozor Igo, to reroute him to Lagos, where he was eventually arrested.
Unable to state the exact number of drug pellets swallowed, the suspect was placed under medical observation for three days, during which he excreted 13 additional pellets, bringing the total seizure to 100 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.715 kilograms.
In what appeared to be the largest seizure recorded during the operations, NDLEA operatives at the Apapa Seaport, Lagos, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, intercepted 8,287 bags of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 4,143.5 kilograms with an estimated street value of over ₦10.3 billion.
Babafemi said the illicit consignment was hidden inside a container imported from Canada and was uncovered during a joint examination conducted on Friday, July 10, following weeks of intelligence-driven surveillance by the agency’s Maritime Intelligence Unit in collaboration with the Apapa Strategic Command.
The agency also foiled an attempt to export 2.5 kilograms of skunk concealed inside a gas compressor destined for Cyprus through a Lagos-based courier company.
Beyond enforcement operations, the NDLEA said its commands across the country sustained their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign with sensitisation programmes in schools, communities and public institutions in Ebonyi, Kano, Ekiti, Ogun and Rivers states, among others.
Commending officers involved in the operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), praised personnel from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI), MMIA, NAIA, Maritime Intelligence Unit and Apapa Command for the successful arrests and seizures.
Marwa urged the officers to sustain the momentum in both drug supply reduction efforts and public enlightenment campaigns.
He noted that the agency’s enforcement operations must continue to be balanced with sustained advocacy against drug abuse across the country.
