The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday sentenced a 38-year-old South African woman to 25 years in prison for smuggling 5.75 kilogrammes of heroin into Nigeria through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu passed the sentence, stressing that Nigerian law does not respect emotions.
In August, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arraigned Will Jessica Ann before the Federal High Court in Abuja, where she pleaded guilty to unlawfully importing 5.75 kilogrammes of heroin into the country on July 6.
The NDLEA, in a statement signed by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, had revealed that the woman was arrested in July while travelling with her three-year-old son.
According to the NDLEA statement, the suspect, identified as Will Ann, was arrested on Monday, July 6, during the inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways Flight QR1433, arriving from Doha.
Passing sentence, Justice Egwuatu held that, prior to her guilty plea, the defendant had admitted to committing the offence in her extrajudicial statement.
He added that the law is settled that a conviction follows a plea of guilty.
The judge subsequently convicted her of the offence.
After that, the prosecution urged the court to factor in the cost of 1kg of heroin, which is worth about N18 million, in sentencing her.
Ann was given an opportunity to speak, and she promised never to engage in such an act again.
She also said she was remorseful and did not know there were illicit drugs in the bag.
After hearing from the parties and considering the defendant’s plea for leniency, the judge said “crime does not pay” and that the law is not influenced by “emotions.”
The judge consequently sentenced her to 15 years’ imprisonment on Count 1 and 25 years’ imprisonment on Count 2, adding that the sentences shall run concurrently, meaning she will serve 25 years in prison.
The judge also ruled that if the convict does not appeal within the prescribed period allowed by law, the heroin should be destroyed.
The NDLEA had said the suspect initially denied travelling with any checked-in luggage before operatives established that two suitcases containing 14 large blocks of heroin bore baggage tags matching the claim tags attached to her passport.
“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 statement read.
The agency had said the suspect claimed she had travelled from Cambodia through Doha before arriving in Abuja.
“Intelligence leading to her arrest indicates she is a member of a transnational drug trafficking organization along with her husband/partner, Jan Coenraad De Jager, based in Cambodia from where they operate their drug network along the Cambodian-South African axis,” the statement had added.
Upon arraignment, however, Ann admitted to conspiring with one Jan Coenraad De Jager, a South African male, in the act.
She was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy and unlawful importation, punishable under Section 14 of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, Cap N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
The arrest highlights the continued use of Nigeria’s major international airports as transit and destination points for drug trafficking networks operating across multiple continents, with operatives increasingly employing tactics ranging from luggage concealment to internal body packing to evade detection.
Earlier this year, the NDLEA declared that it had secured 974 convictions against drug offenders across Nigeria in the first quarter of 2026, including 11 major drug kingpins who were sentenced to a combined 254 years in prison.
The figures were disclosed in a statement signed by Femi Babafemi, Director of Media and Advocacy at the NDLEA Headquarters in Abuja, on April 17, 2026.
According to the agency, convictions increased steadily during the three-month period, with 265 offenders convicted in January, 316 in February and 393 in March, reflecting a continued push by the NDLEA to prosecute drug-related offences nationwide.
Source – Nairametrics
(vitalnewsngr.com)
