The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 38-year-old South African woman at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for allegedly attempting to smuggle 5.75 kilogrammes of heroin into Nigeria.
In a statement on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s director of media and advocacy, said the suspect, identified as Will Jessica Ann, was apprehended on July 6 during the inward clearance of passengers arriving on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha.
Babafemi said the suspect concealed 14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75 kilogrammes inside two checked-in bags while travelling with her three-year-old son in an attempt to evade security checks.
According to him, the woman initially denied having any checked luggage, but NDLEA operatives later discovered that the baggage tags on the two suitcases matched the claim tags attached to her passport.
He added that the suspect eventually admitted ownership of the bags, claiming she had forgotten that she checked them in.
Babafemi said the woman travelled from Cambodia through Doha before arriving in Abuja, adding that intelligence reports indicated she was allegedly linked to a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Cambodia-South Africa route with her husband or partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager.