NDLEA Arrests South African Woman With 5.75kg Heroin At Abuja Airport

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 38-year-old South African woman, identified as Will Ann, for allegedly attempting to smuggle 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The agency said the suspect was travelling with her three-year-old son when she was apprehended on Monday, July 6, during the inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways Flight QR1433 from Doha.

According to the NDLEA, the woman allegedly concealed 14 large blocks of heroin inside two suitcases but initially denied having any checked-in luggage upon arrival.

The agency said further checks led to the recovery of the suspected illicit drugs and the suspect’s subsequent arrest.

In a statement issued on Sunday by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the anti-narcotics agency said its operatives established that the baggage tags matched the claim tags attached to the suspect’s passport, prompting her to admit ownership of the bags.

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The statement read, “Though she initially denied travelling with check-in bags, after operatives were able to quickly establish that the two bags containing the drugs had tags which tallied with the claim tags attached to her passport, she recanted and admitted ownership of the bags, adding that she forgot she checked in the two bags.”

The agency said the suspect claimed she travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja.

NDLEA further alleged that intelligence indicated she was part of a transnational drug trafficking organisation operating along the Cambodia-South Africa axis with her husband and partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager.