The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 38-year-old South African woman, Will Jessica Ann, for allegedly attempting to bring 5.75 kilogrammes of heroin into Nigeria through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, the suspect was apprehended on July 6 during the inward screening of passengers arriving on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha.
Babafemi said NDLEA officers discovered 14 large blocks of heroin hidden inside two checked-in suitcases belonging to the suspect, who had travelled with her three-year-old son.
He explained that the woman initially denied having any checked luggage, but investigations revealed that the baggage tags on the two suitcases corresponded with the claim tags linked to her passport.
“Operatives later established that the baggage tags attached to the two suitcases matched the claim tags on her passport,” Babafemi said.
The NDLEA spokesperson added that the suspect later admitted ownership of the bags, claiming she had forgotten that she checked them in.
Babafemi said investigations showed that the woman travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja, with intelligence suggesting she was allegedly connected to a transnational drug trafficking network operating along the Cambodia-South Africa route with her husband or partner, identified as Jan Coenraad De Jager.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives also arrested 48-year-old Onyechere Daniel Chinadu at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, over the alleged importation of methamphetamine.
Babafemi said Chinadu was arrested on June 28 after arriving from Madagascar through Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight, with officers allegedly recovering 87 wraps of methamphetamine concealed inside clothing in his backpack.
He said the suspect told investigators that he had worked as a commercial motorcycle rider in Lagos for 15 years before being recruited into drug trafficking by a friend based in Uganda.
According to Babafemi, Chinadu confessed that he swallowed an undisclosed number of methamphetamine pellets in Uganda before travelling to Madagascar. He was later returned to Nigeria after being denied entry into Madagascar by immigration authorities.
The NDLEA spokesperson said the suspect was placed under observation because he could not disclose the number of pellets he ingested, adding that he later excreted 13 additional pellets over three days.
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The development brought the total seizure from him to 100 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.715 kilogrammes.
In another major operation, the agency intercepted 8,287 bags of Canadian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, weighing 4,143.5 kilogrammes and valued at over N10.3 billion at the Apapa Port, Lagos.
Babafemi said the drugs were discovered in a container imported from Canada during a joint examination involving the NDLEA, the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.
He said the seizure followed weeks of intelligence tracking by the NDLEA’s Maritime Intelligence Unit in collaboration with the Apapa Strategic Command.
The agency also stopped an attempt to export 2.5 kilogrammes of skunk cannabis concealed inside a gas compressor through a courier company in Lagos. The shipment was reportedly headed for Cyprus.
Babafemi added that the NDLEA has continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) awareness campaign in schools, communities and workplaces nationwide.
He said the NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mohammed Buba Marwa, praised officers involved in the operations and urged them to continue their efforts against drug trafficking while strengthening public enlightenment programmes.