The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a criminal syndicate operating at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, responsible for planting illicit substances in the luggage of three unsuspecting Nigerians currently detained in Saudi Arabia on allegations of drug trafficking.
According to the agency, Mrs. Maryam Hussain Abdullahi, Mrs. Abdullahi Bahijja Aminu, and Mr. Abdulhamid Saddiq—pilgrims who travelled for the lesser hajj—were wrongly implicated after members of the syndicate secretly checked in bags containing illicit drugs under their names.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Monday, August 25, 2025, during a press briefing at the Agency’s national headquarters in Abuja, the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the pilgrims, who flew on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET940 from Kano to Jeddah on August 6, had their details fraudulently tagged to six additional bags, three of which were later found to contain narcotics in Saudi Arabia.
Babafemi added that the pilgrims were arrested on arrival and remain in detention.
He said, “Mrs. Maryam Hussain Abdullahi, Mrs. Abdullahi Bahijja Aminu, and Mr. Abdulhamid Saddiq boarded an Ethiopian Airlines flight ET940, which departed Kano on 6th August 2025 to Jeddah en route Addis-Ababa, and were unfortunate to be tagged with six additional bags not belonging to them, three of which were 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 day of August, 2025, which incidentally did not arrive with her at her destination. Her husband was only informed of the arrival of their luggage on 16th August, a day before the date of their departure from Jeddah, which was to be on the 17th day of August, 2025.
“Following this allegation, she was detained in Jeddah and is still in detention to date. The case of the other two persons followed the same pattern and were reported to the Agency shortly after Maryam Hussain’s complaint”.
Babafemi said following a complaint by the pilgrims’ families, the NDLEA conducted an investigation into the matter.
He noted that the investigation revealed that the mastermind, 55-year-old Mohammed Ali Abubakar, also known as Bello Karama, worked with accomplices, including staff of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company, to check in the bags.
Babafemi said the drugs were traced back to Abubakar, who travelled on a separate Egypt Air flight the same day.
He said, “Investigation revealed that the bags containing illicit drug substances intercepted in Saudi Arabia were checked in against the complainants’ names by members of a criminal syndicate operating in Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport without the knowledge of the three complainants.
“All the bags were traced to one Ali Abubakar Mohammed (aka Bello Karama), the leader of the syndicate, who checked them into the Ethiopian Airlines on the 6th day of August 2025, the same day the three complainants travelled on board the same airline from Kano en route to Addis-Ababa to Jeddah.
“It is interesting to note that the said Ali Abubakar Mohammed, who also travelled to Jeddah on the same date, boarded Egypt Air rather than Ethiopian Airlines, where he checked in his contaminated bags.
“The bags were tagged and checked in by members of staff of Skyway Aviation Handling Company, who are also members of the criminal syndicate, to the names of the three complainants secretly and without their knowledge or consent.
“The bags illegally tagged against the complainants’ names are the ones intercepted in Saudi Arabia and found to contain the illicit drug substances.
“For the above reasons, the three complainants were arrested and detained for crimes they had no knowledge of.
“It is clear that Mrs. Maryam Abdullahi and two others who are being detained in Saudi Arabia are victims of circumstance, implicated by the activities of a criminal syndicate operating at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport”.
Babafemi noted that six members of the syndicate are already in custody, with four—Ali Abubakar Mohammed, Abdulbasit Adamu, Murtala Akande Olalekan, and Celestina Yayock—charged to court.
” They have all made confessional statements. While Ali had admitted bringing in seven luggage, Celestina confessed to checking in two of them for a fee of N100,000, and another suspect, Jazuli Kabir, who checked in two other bags, admitted collecting N100,000 for the dirty job, while Ali travelled with the other three bags on Egypt Air. We have the receipts for the transfer of N200,000 from Ali to Celestina, who in turn transferred N100,000 to Jazuli, ” he added.
Babafemi disclosed that the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd) has started efforts to secure the release of the detained Nigerians.
“Nigeria will never abandon its citizens, especially when the facts clearly show they are victims of criminal conspiracies,” Babafemi assured
