The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 55-year-old suspected drug kingpin and five syndicate members at Kano airport after three Nigerian pilgrims were unjustly detained in Saudi Arabia over drug-laden bags secretly tagged to their names.
The Director, Media and Advocacy NDLEA, Femi Babafemi disclosed this during at a press briefing on Monday in Abuja.
Babafemi who addressed the press alongside the Director of Assets and Financial Investigation, Dr Abdul Ibrahim, and the Director of Prosecution and Legal Services, Mrs Theresa Asuquo, said that the case came to light after complaint from families of three pilgrims to the NDLEA Chairman, retired, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa.
He explained that the families of the detained pilgrims had complained to NDLEA chairman that their relatives had been detained in Jeddah for alleged drug trafficking during their lesser hajj.
He said the detainees, Mrs Maryam Abdullahi, Mrs Abdullahi Aminu and Mr Abdulhamid Saddiq, travelled aboard Ethiopian Airline flight ET940 from Kano on Aug. 6 to Jeddah via Addis Ababa.
How the syndicate framed the pilgrims
According to him, the suspects were implicated when six additional bags not belonging to them were checked in against their names, with three of the bags later found to contain illicit drugs.
Babafemi explained that Abdullahi had only checked in one 9kg bag which failed to arrive with her in Jeddah.
He said that the luggage was later delivered on Aug. 16, a day before her scheduled return on Aug. 17, when she was detained, adding that same pattern applied to the two other complainants.
“NDLEA’s swift investigation revealed that the bags intercepted in Saudi Arabia were checked in against the complainants’ names by members of a criminal syndicate operating at MAKIA, without their knowledge.
“The bags were traced to the syndicate leader, who checked them into Ethiopian Airline on Aug. 6, while he himself travelled to Jeddah on Egypt Air with three other bags,” he said.
Inside the criminal network
The NDLEA spokesman said that the bags were illegally tagged by staff of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company, who were part of the syndicate.
The six suspects are in NDLEA custody with four of them already charged to court and awaiting arraignment.
According to Babafemi, the leader of the syndicate admitted to bringing in seven bags, while one of the suspects confessed to checking in two of them for a fee of N100,000, and another admitted to checking in two bags for the same fee.
Babafemi said that NDLEA had also obtained receipts showing the transfer of N200,000 from the syndicate leader to the two suspects.
Efforts to free detained Nigerians
He added that the agency was already engaging with the General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC) in Saudi Arabia to secure justice for the three pilgrims.
“The NDLEA chairman is scheduled to attend an international drug conference where GDNC officials will be present.
“He intends to present the findings of our investigation and, if necessary, travel personally to Saudi Arabia to pursue the release of the detainees,” he said.
More insights
The NDLEA director of media and advocacy however assured Nigerians that the agency would not allow its citizens to suffer unjustly for crimes they did not commit.
He added that the agency remained committed to tackling drug trafficking and substance abuse in Nigeria, stressing that while high-profile arrests and convictions continued, innocent persons must not be punished.
He commended the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Aviation Security (AVSEC), Department of State Services (DSS) for their collaboration and interim measures introduced at MAKIA to prevent a recurrence.
