The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has apprehended a 38-year-old South African woman, Will Ann, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for allegedly attempting to smuggle 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria while traveling with her three-year-old son. The arrest occurred on July 6, 2026, during the inward clearance of passengers from Qatar Airways flight QR1433 arriving from Doha.
Initially, Will Ann denied traveling with checked luggage; however, NDLEA operatives discovered that the baggage tags matched those on her passport, prompting her to admit ownership of the suitcases which contained 14 blocks of heroin. She claimed to have traveled from Cambodia through Doha to reach Abuja and is suspected to be part of a transnational drug trafficking organization linked to her husband, Jan Coenraad De Jager.
In another operation, the NDLEA also arrested a 48-year-old motorcycle rider, Onyechere Chinadu, upon arrival from Madagascar via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight. A search of his backpack yielded 87 wraps of methamphetamine concealed in clothing. Chinadu revealed that he was recruited into drug trafficking during his 15 years as an okada rider in Lagos and had ingested methamphetamine pellets in Uganda prior to his journey to Madagascar. After being denied entry into Madagascar, he was rerouted to Lagos and subsequently arrested. Following his arrest, he excreted 13 additional pellets, totaling 100 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.715 kilograms.
Furthermore, at the Apapa Seaport in Lagos, NDLEA intercepted 8,287 bags of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, amounting to 4,143.5 kilograms with an estimated street value exceeding N10.3 billion. This seizure followed weeks of surveillance on a shipment from Montreal, Canada, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.
The NDLEA also thwarted an attempt to export 2.5 kilograms of skunk concealed in a gas compressor destined for Cyprus. Alongside its enforcement efforts, the agency has been active in its War Against Drug Abuse campaign, conducting sensitization lectures in various states, including Ebonyi, Kano, Ekiti, and Ogun. NDLEA Chairman, retired Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa, commended the agency’s officers for their dual focus on reducing drug supply and public education, urging them to continue their efforts against illicit drug activities.
