Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 38-year-old South African woman, Will Jessica Ann, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, for allegedly attempting to smuggle 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria while travelling with her three-year-old son.
The agency alleged that the suspect used the child as a cover to evade security scrutiny after arriving aboard Qatar Airways flight QR1433 from Doha on July 6.
According to the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Babafemi Femi, the woman initially denied travelling with any checked baggage during passenger clearance. However, officers reportedly matched two suitcases containing the illicit drugs to baggage claim tags attached to her passport.
The agency said she later admitted ownership of the luggage, claiming she had forgotten that she checked in the bags. Also that the suspect told investigators she travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja.
The anti-narcotics agency further alleged that intelligence gathered during the investigation linked her to a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating between Cambodia and South Africa alongside her husband or partner, identified as Jan Coenraad De Jager.
In a separate operation at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, NDLEA operatives arrested a 48-year-old commercial motorcycle rider, Onyechere Daniel Chinadu, after he arrived from Madagascar via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight on June 28.
The agency said a search of his checked backpack uncovered 87 wraps of methamphetamine concealed inside clothing.
According to NDLEA, the suspect confessed that he had worked as an okada rider in Lagos for 15 years before being recruited into drug trafficking by a Uganda-based associate.
Investigators said he admitted swallowing additional pellets of methamphetamine in Uganda before embarking on the trip to Madagascar to deliver the drugs.
The suspect reportedly told investigators that he was denied entry into Madagascar by immigration authorities, prompting his alleged sponsor, identified as Ozor Igo and based in Uganda, to reroute him to Lagos, where he was arrested.
Because he could not state the number of pellets he had ingested, NDLEA placed him under observation. Between his arrest and July 1, he allegedly excreted 13 additional pellets, bringing the total seizure to 100 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.715 kilograms.
Meanwhile, at the Apapa Seaport in Lagos, NDLEA said it intercepted 8,287 nylon bags of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 4,143.5 kilograms and valued at over N10.3 billion.
The seizure was made during a joint examination involving NDLEA, the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies after weeks of surveillance on the container imported from Montreal, Canada.
The agency also said its operatives foiled an attempt to export 2.5 kilograms of skunk concealed inside a gas compressor destined for Cyprus through a Lagos-based courier company.
Beyond enforcement operations, NDLEA said it sustained its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign with sensitisation programmes in schools and communities across Ebonyi, Kano, Ekiti and Ogun states, while officials of its Zone 14 Command paid an advocacy visit to Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers involved in the arrests and seizures, urging them to sustain the agency’s efforts to reduce drug trafficking while intensifying public awareness campaigns against drug abuse.
(The Whistler)
