A 38-year-old South African woman was sentenced to 40 years in prison in Nigeria for drug trafficking, held in possession of more than five kilograms of heroin, the anti-drug agency said.
© Reuters
17/09/2026
by
Lusa
Jessica Ann was arrested on 6 July at Abuja International Airport, Nigeria, in possession of 5.75 kilograms of heroin, “using her three-year-old son as a cover to bypass security checks and avoid a thorough inspection,” the Nigerian Drug Repression Administration (NDLEA) said in a statement.
The woman had arrived from Doha, capital of Qatar, where she stopped in Cambodia.
According to NDLEA’s investigation, “he is a member of a transnational drug trafficking organisation along with his husband Jan Coenraad De Jager, based in Cambodia, from where they manage their trafficking network along the Cambodia-South Africa corridor.”.
Her husband was also arrested in late July in Johannesburg, South Africa, while attempting to smuggle 3.2 kilos of drugs into Hong Kong.
Jessica Ann pleaded guilty to both charges of heroin import and conspiracy to import heroin.
For these two charges, he was sentenced to 15 and 25 years in prison, respectively, totaling 40 years, a sentence he will serve simultaneously, resulting in a maximum of 25 years in prison.