NDLEA arrests South African woman using 3-year-old son as cover to smuggle heroin into Nigeria
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives have arrested a South African woman who allegedly used her three-year-old son as cover while attempting to smuggle 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said the suspect, identified as Will Jessica Ann, 38, was arrested on Monday, July 6, during the inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight QR1433 from Doha.
Babafemi said the suspect arrived in Abuja from Cambodia via Doha and was found with 14 large blocks of heroin concealed in two checked-in bags.
He said the suspect initially denied travelling with any checked baggage but later admitted ownership after NDLEA operatives matched the baggage tags with those attached to her passport.
According to Babafemi, intelligence gathered after her arrest indicates that she and her husband, Jan Coenraad De Jager, are members of a transnational drug trafficking network operating between Cambodia and South Africa.
In a separate operation, the NDLEA spokesperson said operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, arrested a 48-year-old commercial motorcycle rider, Onyechere Daniel Chinadu, over alleged drug trafficking.
Babafemi said Chinadu was intercepted on June 28 after arriving from Madagascar via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
“A search of his luggage led to the recovery of 87 wraps of methamphetamine concealed among clothing,” he said.
He said the suspect, who claimed to have worked as an okada rider in Lagos for 15 years, confessed that a friend based in Uganda recruited him into drug trafficking.
According to Babafemi, Chinadu said he ingested methamphetamine pellets in Uganda before travelling to Madagascar to deliver the consignment but was denied entry by immigration authorities on arrival.
He said the suspect was subsequently rerouted to Lagos, where NDLEA officers arrested him.
“Because he could not state the exact number of pellets he ingested, he was placed under excretion observation for three days,” Babafemi said.
He added that the suspect excreted 13 additional wraps between his arrest and July 1, bringing the total number of recovered methamphetamines wraps to 100 with a combined weight of 1.715 kilograms.
‘N10.3BN WORTH OF CANNABIS SEIZED AT LAGOS SEAPORT’
Babafemi also said operatives of the anti-narcotics agency seized 4,143.5 kilograms of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, valued at over N10.3 billion.
He said the consignment, comprising 8,287 nylon bags, was discovered inside a container imported from Canada during a joint examination by NDLEA, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other security agencies at the Apapa seaport on July 10.
Babafemi said the seizure followed weeks of intelligence-led tracking by the agency’s maritime intelligence unit from the point of departure in Montreal, Canada.
He added that NDLEA operatives also intercepted an attempt to export 2.5 kilograms of skunk concealed inside a gas compressor destined for Cyprus through a Lagos courier company.
The spokesperson said the agency sustained its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign during the week with sensitisation programmes in schools and communities across Ebonyi, Kano, Ekiti and Ogun states.
He added that officers of the agency’s Zone 14 command also paid an advocacy visit to Siminalayi Fubara, governor of Rivers state.
Buba Marwa, NDLEA chairman, commended officers involved in the arrests and seizures and urged them to sustain efforts aimed at reducing drug trafficking while intensifying public sensitisation against drug abuse.
