Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), says the 40-year jail term handed to a South African lady for importing heroin into Nigeria proves that Nigeria will not serve as a soft landing for international drug cartels.
Marwa stated this on Thursday while reacting to the conviction and sentencing of 38-year-old South African, Ms. Will Jessica Ann, by the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Ms. Ann was arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on July 6, 2026, after 14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75 kilograms were found concealed in her luggage.
The Agency said she had used her three-year-old son as cover to beat security checks. She arrived on Qatar Airways flight QR1433 from Doha and initially denied traveling with check-in bags, but later admitted ownership after operatives matched the bag tags with claim tags on her passport.
According to the NDLEA, intelligence showed she is a member of a transnational drug trafficking organization along with her husband, Jan Coenraad De Jager, based in Cambodia. The husband was also arrested in Johannesburg 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 for importation and conspiracy to import 5.75kg of heroin.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, September 17, 2026, Justice Obiora Atuegwu Egwuatu convicted her on both counts and sentenced her to 15 years on count one and 25 years on count two, totaling 40 years, which will run concurrently.
Reacting to the judgment, Marwa described it as a firm demonstration of the resolve of the judiciary to support the Agency’s war against drug trafficking and a strong deterrent to transnational cartels seeking to use Nigeria as a transit or destination point.
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.
Marwa said the swift dispensation of justice, from arrest to conviction, reflects the effectiveness of NDLEA operations and its close working relationship with the Federal High Court.
He warned that the Agency will continue to strengthen airport interdiction, intelligence-led operations and international collaboration to dismantle drug networks, adding that anyone, regardless of nationality, caught trafficking illicit drugs through Nigerian territory will face the full weight of the law.
