The family of Donna Nelson, an Australian politician, who was recently arrested in Japan for suspected drug trafficking, has blamed her Nigerian lover simply named Kelly for her predicament.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Nelson, a 2022 West Australian Greens candidate and Aboriginal health advocate, was arrested by Japanese authorities on January 4 when she was allegedly found with drugs stashed inside a bag at Narita Airport near Tokyo.

Nelson’s family members said the 56-year-old’s Nigerian lover, believed to be a scammer, had groomed her for two years before she was arrested for the crime. They also said she was either forced or tricked into carrying the bag, which she had not packed in her luggage before leaving Australia.

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The Australian politician had travelled to Japan to meet Kelly, whom she met in 2021through an online dating site called AfroIntroductions.

According to nelson’s family members, Kelly claimed to be the owner of a couture brand.

Nelson’s daughters added that the pair had messaged back and forth for months, talking about a potential trip to Brazil to meet Nelson’s relatives and making plans to get married in Nigeria donning traditional African dress.

Kelly eventually gained Nelson’s trust, sending her an image of a document he claimed was his Japanese residency card, and offering to pay for some of her daughters’ travels to foreign countries.

He convinced Nelson to visit him in Japan and bought her business-class tickets to Tokyo via Singapore, Laos and Vietnam. The politician’s daughters believe it was during her three-day stop in Laos that she met with an associate of Kelly and came to be in possession of the bag that Japanese authorities later uncovered at the airport.

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“One of the hardest things for me when I found out that she was detained was imagining how she must have felt when she realised that this person didn’t love her,” said Kristal Hilaire, one of Nelson’s daughters.

“How she must have felt when her heart broke.”

Under Japanese law, law enforcement agencies are allowed to detain suspects for 23 days without formally charging them, and while investigations are still ongoing.

During this period, suspects are held in a police station or immigration detention centre, where they can be interrogated at length without the presence of a lawyer.

Suspects are also not allowed to apply for bail while awaiting charges.