NDLEA BUSTS INTERNATIONAL DRUG SYNDICATE, ARRESTS SOUTH AFRICAN SUSPECT
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By: Fasasi Hammad
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 38-year-old South African woman, identified as Will Ann, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja for allegedly attempting to smuggle 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria while travelling with her three-year-old son.
According to the agency, the suspect was apprehended on Monday, July 6, 2026, during the arrival screening of passengers on Qatar Airways Flight QR1433 from Doha.
NDLEA said the woman allegedly concealed 14 large parcels of heroin inside two suitcases and initially denied having any checked baggage.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said operatives linked the suitcases to the suspect after discovering that the baggage tags matched claim tags attached to her passport.
The agency said the suspect later admitted ownership of the luggage, claiming she had forgotten that she checked in the bags.
“She initially denied travelling with checked-in baggage, but after operatives established that the tags on the bags corresponded with those attached to her passport, she admitted the luggage belonged to her and claimed she forgot she had checked them in,” the statement said.
NDLEA disclosed that the suspect told investigators she travelled from Cambodia to Nigeria through Doha.
The agency further alleged that intelligence reports linked her to an international drug trafficking network operating between Cambodia and South Africa, reportedly involving her husband and associate, Jan Coenraad De Jager.
In a separate operation at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, NDLEA operatives arrested a 48-year-old commercial motorcyclist, Onyechere Chinadu, after he arrived from Madagascar via Addis Ababa aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
A search of his backpack allegedly uncovered 87 wraps of methamphetamine hidden inside clothing items.
According to the agency, the suspect confessed that he had worked as an okada rider in Lagos for about 15 years before being recruited into drug trafficking by an associate based in Uganda.
NDLEA said he admitted swallowing several pellets of methamphetamine in Uganda before embarking on a journey intended to deliver the illicit consignment in Madagascar.
The agency stated that after he was denied entry into Madagascar, his sponsor redirected him to Lagos, where he was subsequently arrested.
Because the suspect could not specify the number of pellets he had ingested, NDLEA placed him under observation. Between his arrest and July 11, he reportedly excreted 13 additional pellets, increasing the total seizure to 100 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.715 kilograms.
Meanwhile, at the Apapa Seaport in Lagos, NDLEA said it intercepted 8,287 bags of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing 4,143.5 kilograms and valued at more than N10.3 billion on the illicit market.
The agency said the seizure was made during a joint inspection involving NDLEA personnel, the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies following weeks of surveillance on the container shipped from Canada.
According to NDLEA, the operation was the result of extensive intelligence gathering and tracking conducted from the point of departure in Montreal, Canada, by its Maritime Intelligence Unit in collaboration with the Apapa Strategic Command.
The agency also announced that its operatives thwarted an attempt to export 2.5 kilograms of skunk concealed inside a gas compressor bound for Cyprus through a courier company in Lagos.
Beyond enforcement activities, NDLEA said its commands nationwide continued the War Against Drug Abuse campaign through sensitisation programmes in schools across Ebonyi, Kano, Ekiti and Ogun states. The agency also carried out advocacy engagements, including a visit by the leadership of Zone 14 Command to Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Commending officers involved in the operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, retired Brigadier General Buba Marwa, praised the commands for sustaining both enforcement efforts and public awareness campaigns against drug abuse.
He urged officers nationwide to remain committed to the fight against illicit drug trafficking and substance abuse, stressing the need to build on existing achievements.
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