Nigeria has secured the release of three pilgrims who were detained in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last month over alleged drug trafficking.
The freed pilgrims are Mrs. Maryam Hussain Abdullahi, Mrs. Abdullahi Bahijja Aminu and Mr. Abdulhamid Saddieq.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA’s) spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, revealed this yesterday.
He said their freedom followed weeks of relentless engagements by the chairman/chief executive of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Marwa (rtd) with the leadership of the General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC) in Saudi Arabia with the full support of President Bola Tinubu and the assistance of the attorney-general of the federation and minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, minister of Foreign Affairs. Yusuf Tuggar, minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, and the national security adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
A syndicate operating at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano had tagged bags containing illicit drugs with the names of the three unsuspecting Nigerians who travelled on an Ethiopian Airlines flight ET940, which departed Kano on August 6, 2025, to Jeddah on the lesser hajj. They were later arrested in Saudi Arabia for alleged drug trafficking.
Following complaints to the NDLEA boss by their families over the detention of the victims in Saudi Arabia after the completion of their lesser hajj on an allegation of trafficking in illicit substances, an investigation was launched to unravel what happened.
The probe led to the arrest of 55-year-old drug kingpin Mohammed Ali Abubakar alias Bello Karama and three other members of the syndicate, including the airline officials behind the shipment of the illicit substances, for which the three innocent pilgrims were detained in Jeddah.
Since then, charges have been filed against Mohammed Ali Abubakar and three other members of the syndicate: Celestina Emmanuel Yayock, Abdulbasit Adamu Sagagi and Jazuli Kabir.
Armed with the outcome of the NDLEA investigation, the charges filed against members of the syndicate, and other evidence to prove the pilgrims’ innocence, Marwa engaged with his Saudi counterpart at multiple levels and different locations, including Saudi Arabia, in compliance with President Tinubu’s directive that no Nigerian suffers unjustly in a foreign land.
The engagements led to the release of one of the three Nigerians from custody on Sunday, September 14, and the remaining two on Monday, September 15, 2025.
While expressing happiness over the development, Marwa commended his counterpart at the Saudi GDNC for upholding the essence of the Memorandum of Understanding between NDLEA and GDNC on collaboration and partnership.
“The biggest support for our effort in this case came from President Tinubu, who is committed to ensuring that all Nigerians deserve respect and fair treatment wherever they are across the world. That is what has come to play in this case: no Nigerian is unjustly punished for crimes they know nothing about anywhere in the world…” he noted.
