A 38-year-old South African woman, Ms. Will Jessica Ann, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, after officers allegedly recovered 5.75 kilograms of heroin concealed in her luggage.

The agency said the suspect attempted to evade security screening by travelling with her three-year-old son, whom she allegedly used as a cover during the smuggling operation.

According to a statement on Sunday by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the suspect was arrested on Monday, July 6, during the inward clearance of passengers aboard Qatar Airways flight QR1433 from Doha.

Babafemi said the suspect initially denied travelling with any checked baggage but later admitted ownership after NDLEA operatives matched the luggage tags on two bags containing 14 large blocks of heroin with the claim tags attached to her passport.

She reportedly claimed she travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja and told investigators that she had forgotten she checked in the bags.

The agency said intelligence reports indicate that Jessica Ann is allegedly a member of a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Cambodian-South African route with her husband or partner, identified as Jan Coenraad De Jager.

In a separate operation, NDLEA officers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, arrested a 48-year-old commercial motorcycle rider, Onyechere Daniel Chinadu, after he arrived from Madagascar via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.

The agency said a search of his checked backpack uncovered 87 wraps of methamphetamine concealed inside clothing.

During interrogation, Chinadu reportedly confessed that he had worked as an okada rider in the Oke-Afa area of Lagos for 15 years before a Uganda-based associate recruited him into drug trafficking.

He allegedly told investigators that he ingested methamphetamine pellets in Uganda before embarking on the trip to Madagascar but was denied entry by immigration authorities on arrival. His alleged sponsor, identified as Ozor Igo, then rerouted him to Lagos, where he was arrested.

NDLEA said because the suspect could not state the exact number of pellets he had swallowed, he was placed under observation for three days, during which he excreted 13 additional pellets, bringing the total seizure to 100 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.715 kilograms.

Meanwhile, at the Apapa Seaport in Lagos, NDLEA officers, working with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, intercepted 8,287 nylon bags of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 4,143.5 kilograms with an estimated street value of more than N10.3 billion.

The seizure was made on Friday, July 10, during a joint examination of a container imported from Canada after weeks of intelligence-led tracking by the agency’s Maritime Intelligence Unit.

The agency also foiled an attempt to export 2.5 kilograms of skunk concealed inside a gas compressor destined for Cyprus through a Lagos-based courier company.

Beyond enforcement operations, NDLEA said it continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaign across the country, conducting awareness programmes in schools and communities in Ebonyi, Kano, Ekiti and Ogun states, while officials of its Zone 14 Command paid an advocacy visit to the Rivers State Government.

Commending officers involved in the arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), urged personnel across the country to sustain efforts in reducing drug supply while intensifying public sensitisation against drug abuse.