The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) announced on Monday that three Nigerians recently arrested and detained in Saudi Arabia for drug trafficking are victims of a criminal syndicate operating at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.

The victims—Mrs. Maryam Hussain Abdullahi, Mrs. Abdullahi Bahijja Aminu, and Mr. Abdulhamid Saddiq—were on a lesser hajj pilgrimage when they were arrested and detained in Jeddah for alleged drug trafficking.

According to the NDLEA, a 55-year-old drug kingpin, Mohammed Ali Abubakar (alias Bello Karama), and five members of his syndicate operating at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) in Kano have been taken into custody.

The agency discovered that this syndicate was behind the shipment of the illicit substances that led to the detention of the three innocent Nigerians.

This was disclosed at a press conference at the NDLEA National Headquarters in Abuja, where the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, was joined by the Director of Assets and Financial Investigation, Dr. Abdul Ibrahim, and the Director of Prosecution and Legal Services, Theresa Asuquo.

How the syndicate framed the victims

The NDLEA explained that after its Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), received complaints from the families of the three victims, an investigation was launched.

The Agency said the victims, who were on an Ethiopian Airlines flight ET940 from Kano to Jeddah on August 6, 2025, were unknowingly tagged with six additional bags that did not belong to them. Three of these bags were later found to contain illicit drugs.

“Mrs. Maryam Hussain Abdullahi, while embarking on this flight, only checked in one luggage weighing 9 kilograms on the 6th of August, 2025, which incidentally did not arrive with her,” the agency stated. “Her husband was only informed of the arrival of their luggage on August 16, a day before their scheduled departure from Jeddah. ‘’Following this allegation, she was detained in Jeddah and is still in detention. The cases of the other two persons followed the same pattern and were reported to the agency shortly after Maryam Hussain’s complaint,” the Agency said.

The NDLEA’s investigation revealed that the bags containing the drugs were checked in under the victims’ names by members of the criminal syndicate at the airport without the victims’ knowledge. All the bags were traced to Ali Abubakar Mohammed (alias Bello Karama), the syndicate leader, who checked them in on the same day the three victims traveled. Mohammed himself traveled to Jeddah on the same date but on an Egypt Air flight, not the Ethiopian Airlines flight where he checked in the contaminated bags.

“The bags were secretly tagged to the victims’ names by staff members of Skyway Aviation Handling Company, who were also part of the syndicate. This is why the three victims were arrested and detained for a crime they had no knowledge of.

“In light of the foregoing and the evidence gathered by the agency, it is clear that Mrs. Maryam Abdullahi and the two others are victims of circumstance, implicated by the activities of a criminal syndicate at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport,” the NDLEA concluded.

The agency confirmed that six members of the syndicate are in custody, with four already charged and awaiting arraignment, including Ali Abubakar Mohammed, Abdulbasit Adamu, Murtala Akande Olalekan, and Celestina Emmanuel Yayock.

NDLEA working to get the victims released

According to the Agency, based on these findings, the NDLEA is now in talks with the General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC) in Saudi Arabia to ensure the three innocent Nigerians are exonerated.

It said based on the outcome of its investigations it is spearheading a dialogue with the authority of the General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC) in Saudi Arabia to see that the three innocent Nigerians are exonerated.

“As a result, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Agency is presently on his way to attend an International Drug Conference which will be attended by a delegation from the General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC), who he intends to meet one on one, to present our findings and seek the cooperation of our Saudi counterparts in ensuring that Mrs. Maryam Hussain Abdullahi, and the two others who remain stranded in the Kingdom, get the justice they deserve. If required, the CCEO is also prepared to travel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia personally to pursue this matter to its conclusion”, Babafemi stated while assuring that Nigeria will never abandon its citizens, especially when the facts clearly show that they are victims of criminal conspiracies.

In an earlier interview with Daily Trust on the incident, NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi said the agency had informed the Saudi Arabian anti-narcotics agency of the development and the fact that the victims are innocents,

He said, “We are already in touch with our counterparts in Saudi to prove the fact that the woman is totally oblivious. It is not her bag and since we have already arrested the actual owner of the bag.

“We are already in touch with Saudi Arabia and we are sending necessary documents to our counterparts in Saudi Arabia in that regard.

“We already sent relevant documents to them. This has happened before. This happened, I think in 2023 and we went through the same process to get the lady out. It’s the same process we are going through.

“We have already sent the necessary details that our counterpart needs. So what we need to send next is the charges and the details of the prosecution of the actual culprits which they would definitely get early next week.”

Jigawa lady framed at same airport in 2019

A similar incident happened in 2019 when a Nigerian student, Zainab Habib Aliyu, an indigene of Jigawa State was detained over alleged trafficking. She was also framed at the time and was detained for over four months. She was later found to be innocent and released.

She was commissioned as an Assistant Superintendent of Narcotics (ASN) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) after her release.

Aviation security expert, Group Capt. John Ojikutu, said the incident would persist as long as those found culpable including agencies and airlines involved in past cases are not sanctioned.

“This is a case that the Airlines Security Defence Layers for the Airport, Airlines and the NCAA need to investigate. It is getting too much. The National Civil Aviation Security Programme and the Regulations Oversight and Enforcement Authority need to be more on alert than ever before.

“Besides the periodic auditing, the NCAA should begin regular checks and inspections on the Airport and Airlines Security defence layers, and there are about six of them on the local airlines passengers and seven on the foreign airlines passengers,” he said.

He said there is also a need to check the calibre of people recruited to work at the airports.

He expressed worry at the activities of drug trafficking syndicates at Kano Airport, saying particular attention must be paid to it. (Daily Trust)