NDLEA catches South African woman with heroin at Abuja airport

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a 38-year-old South African woman named Will Ann at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. She was caught trying to smuggle 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria while she was traveling with her three-year-old son.

The arrest happened on Monday, July 6, 2026, during the screening of passengers arriving on Qatar Airways Flight QR1433 from Doha.

NDLEA said the woman hid 14 large blocks of heroin in two suitcases. At first, she denied having any checked-in luggage.

In a statement on Sunday from the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA explained that its officers found that the baggage tags matched the claim tags on the suspect’s passport. This led her to admit that the bags belonged to her.

The statement said, “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 noted that the suspect claimed she traveled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja.

NDLEA also mentioned that they received intelligence suggesting she was part of a transnational drug trafficking group that operates between Cambodia and South Africa. Her husband, Jan Coenraad De Jager, is also believed to be involved.