South African Woman Bags 40 Years In Jail For Importing 5.75kg Heroin Into Nigeria
A 38-year-old South African woman, Will Jessica Ann, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for importing 5.75kg of heroin into Nigeria.
The Federal High Court in Abuja handed down the sentence on Thursday, September 17, 2026, after Ann pleaded guilty to a two-count charge bordering on the importation and conspiracy to import the illicit drug.
In a statement issued by Mr. Femi Babafemi, Director, Media and Advocacy, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Headquarters, Abuja, the agency said Ann was arrested by its operatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Ann was arrested on July 6, 2026, during the inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight QR 1433 from Doha to Abuja.
The NDLEA said its officers discovered 14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75kg concealed in two of her luggage bags.
According to the agency, Ann initially denied travelling with check-in bags but later admitted ownership after officers established that the tags on the two bags corresponded with the claim tags attached to her passport.
She reportedly told investigators that she had travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja.
The NDLEA said intelligence gathered following her arrest indicated that she was allegedly a member of a transnational drug trafficking organisation operating along the Cambodian-South African axis with her husband or partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager.
De Jager was subsequently arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 27, 2026, while allegedly attempting to traffic 3.2kg of illicit drugs to Hong Kong, the agency said.
Ann was arraigned in suit FHC/ABJ/CR/422/2026 before Justice Obiora Atuegwu Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on charges of importing 5.75kg of heroin and conspiracy to import the substance into Nigeria.
She pleaded guilty to both counts.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, Justice Egwuatu sentenced her to 15 years imprisonment on count one and 25 years on count two, bringing the aggregate sentence to 40 years.
The NDLEA, however, said the sentences would run concurrently.
Reacting to the judgment, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), described the conviction as a firm demonstration of the judiciary’s support for the agency’s war against drug trafficking.
Marwa said the judgment was also a strong deterrent to transnational drug cartels seeking to use Nigeria as a transit or destination point for hard drugs.
He said the case reinforced the agency’s long-standing position that Nigeria would not serve as a “soft landing” for international drug cartels.
According to him, the arrest of Ann’s alleged partner in South Africa barely three weeks after her arrest in Nigeria demonstrated the strength of intelligence-sharing and collaboration between the NDLEA and its international partners.
Marwa also said the swift dispensation of justice, from arrest to conviction, reflected the effectiveness of the agency’s operations and its close working relationship with the Federal High Court.
He warned that the NDLEA would continue to strengthen airport interdiction, intelligence-led operations and international collaboration to dismantle transnational drug trafficking networks using Nigeria as a corridor.
Marwa added that anyone, regardless of nationality, caught trafficking illicit drugs through Nigerian territory would face the full weight of the law.
