NDLEA Arrests South African Woman With Heroin at Abuja Airport

• NDLEA has arrested a South African woman travelling with her three-year-old son for allegedly smuggling 5.75kg of heroin into Nigeria, while also making major drug seizures in Lagos worth over ₦10.3 billion.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 38-year-old South African woman, Will Ann, for allegedly attempting to smuggle 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, while travelling with her three-year-old son.

According to the agency, the suspect was arrested on July 6, 2026, during the arrival clearance of passengers aboard Qatar Airways Flight QR1433 from Doha.

NDLEA said the woman allegedly concealed 14 large blocks of heroin inside two suitcases but initially denied travelling with any checked baggage.

However, operatives matched the baggage tags to the claim tags attached to her passport, prompting her to admit ownership of the suitcases.

“Though she initially denied travelling with check-in bags, after operatives established that the two bags containing the drugs had tags which tallied with the claim tags attached to her passport, she recanted and admitted ownership of the bags, adding that she forgot she checked in the two bags,” the agency said.

Investigators said the suspect claimed she travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja and alleged that intelligence linked her to a transnational drug trafficking network operating between Cambodia and South Africa alongside her husband, Jan Coenraad De Jager.

In a separate operation, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, arrested a 48-year-old commercial motorcyclist, Onyechere Chinadu, after arriving from Madagascar via Addis Ababa.

The agency said officers initially recovered 87 wraps of methamphetamine concealed in his luggage before placing him under observation.

Between his arrest and July 11, the suspect reportedly excreted 13 additional pellets, bringing the total recovery to 100 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.715kg.

Meanwhile, at the Apapa Seaport, NDLEA intercepted 8,287 bags of Canadian Loud, a synthetic cannabis strain weighing 4,143.5kg with an estimated street value of over ₦10.3 billion after weeks of intelligence-led surveillance.

The agency also said it foiled an attempt to export 2.5kg of skunk hidden inside a gas compressor destined for Cyprus through a Lagos courier company.

NDLEA Chairman Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.) commended officers involved in the operations and urged commands across the country to sustain the fight against drug trafficking and abuse.