The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a South African woman who allegedly used her 3-year-old son as cover to smuggle heroin into Nigeria and seized cannabis worth more than ₦10.3 billion at the Apapa seaport in Lagos.
NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said in a statement on Sunday that 38-year-old Jessica Ann was arrested on 6th July at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja after arriving on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha.
Babafemi said officers found "14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75 kilograms" hidden in her luggage.
He said the suspect first denied checking in any bags but later admitted they belonged to her after officers matched the baggage tags to her passport.
According to the agency, intelligence showed she was part of "a transnational drug trafficking organisation" operating between Cambodia and South Africa with her husband, Jan Coenraad De Jager.
In a separate operation, NDLEA arrested 48-year-old commercial motorcycle rider Onyechere Daniel Chinadu at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos after he arrived from Madagascar through Addis Ababa.
Officers recovered 87 wraps of methamphetamine from his luggage.
After placing him under observation, he excreted 13 more pellets, bringing the total to "100 wraps of methamphetamine" weighing 1.715 kilograms.
The agency also said it intercepted 8,287 bags of Canadian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, weighing 4,143.5 kilograms in a container shipped from Canada.
The drugs have an estimated street value of more than ₦10.3 billion.
NDLEA Chairman Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.) praised officers involved in the operations.
He commended their "drug supply reduction efforts balanced with WADA sensitisation activities" and urged them "not to rest on their past laurels."
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