A 55-year-old drug kingpin, Mohammed Ali Abubakar, alias Bello Karama, and 5 members of a syndicate working on the Mallam Aminu Kano Worldwide Airport (MAKIA) in Kano, have been taken into custody by the Nationwide Drug Legislation Enforcement Company (NDLEA) following the invention that they have been behind the cargo of illicit substances for which three harmless Nigerians who went on lesser hajj pilgrimage to the holy land have been being detained in Jeddah for alleged drug trafficking.
This was disclosed at a press convention addressed by the Company’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, together with the Director of Property and {Financial} Investigation, Dr. Abdul Ibrahim, and Director of Prosecution and Authorized Providers, Theresa Asuquo, on the NDLEA Nationwide Headquarters in Abuja on Monday.
Explaining how the syndicate implicated thr three unsuspecting pilgrims in drug trafficking allegations in Saudi Arabia, the NDLEA mentioned following receipt of complaints by its chairman/Chief Government, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) from three Nigerian households over the detention of their members of the family in Saudi Arabia after the completion of their lesser hajj pilgrimage on an allegation of trafficking in illicit substances into Saudi Arabia, an investigation was launched to unravel what occurred.
The Company mentioned the three Nigerians detained in Saudi: Mrs. Maryam Hussain Abdullahi; Mrs. Abdullahi Bahijja Aminu; and Mr. Abdulhamid Saddiq boarded an Ethiopian Airline flight ET940 which departed Kano on sixth August 2025 to Jeddah enroute Addis-Ababa have been unlucky to be tagged with six further luggage not belonging to them, three of which have been discovered to include illicit medicine.
“Mrs. Maryam Hussain Abdullahi whereas embarking on this flight, solely checked in a single baggage weighing 9 kilograms on the sixth day of August, 2025, which by the way didn’t arrive along with her to her vacation spot. Her husband was solely knowledgeable of the arrival of their baggage on sixteenth August, a day earlier than the date of their departure from Jeddah, which was to be on the seventeenth day of August, 2025.
“Following this allegation, she was detained in Jeddah and remains to be in detention until date. The case of the opposite two individuals adopted the identical sample and have been reported to the Company shortly after Maryam Hussain’s grievance,” the Company said.
NDLEA revealed that its swift investigation revealed that “the luggage containing illicit drug substances intercepted in Saudi Arabia have been checked in towards the complainants’ names by members of a legal syndicate working in Mallam Aminu Kano Worldwide Airport with out the data of the three complainants.
“All the luggage have been traced to at least one Ali Abubakar Mohammed (a.ok.a Bello Karama), the chief of the syndicate who checked them into the Ethiopian Airline on the sixth day of August 2025, the identical day the three complainants travelled on board the identical airline from Kano enroute Addis-Ababa to Jeddah. It’s fascinating to notice that the mentioned Ali Abubakar Mohammed who additionally travelled to Jeddah on the identical date boarded Egypt Air quite than Ethiopian Airline the place he checked in his contaminated luggage.
“The luggage have been tagged and checked in by members of employees of Skyway Aviation Dealing with Firm who’re additionally members of the legal syndicate, to the names of the three complainants secretly and with out their data or consent. The luggage illegally tagged towards the complainants’ names are those intercepted in Saudi Arabia and located to include the illicit drug substances.
“For the above causes, the three complainants have been arrested and detained for crimes they’d no data of. Within the mild of the forgoing, and the proof gathered by the Company in the middle of our investigation, it’s clear that Mrs. Maryam Abdullahi and two others who’re being detained in Saudi are victims of circumstance, implicated by the actions of a legal syndicate working on the Mallam Aminu Kano Worldwide Airport,” Babafemi said.
The Company mentioned six members of the syndicate have been already in its custody with 4 already charged to court docket awaiting arraignment together with Ali Abubakar Mohammed (a.ok.a Bello Karama); Abdulbasit Adamu, Murtala Akande Olalekan and Celestina Emmanuel Yayock. “They’ve all made confessional statements. Whereas Ali had admitted bringing in seven baggage, Celestina confessed checking in two of them for a price of N100,000 and one other suspect Jazuli Kabir who checked in two different luggage admitted amassing N100,000 for the soiled job, whereas Ali travelled with the opposite three luggage on Egypt Air. We now have the receipts for the switch of N200,000 from Ali to Celestina who in flip transferred N100,000 to Jazuli.”
It mentioned based mostly on the result of its investigations, it was spearheading a dialogue with the authority of the Basic Directorate of Narcotics Management (GDNC) in Saudi Arabia to see that the three harmless Nigerians are exonerated.
“Consequently, the Chairman/Chief Government Officer of the Company is presently on his solution to attend an Worldwide Drug Convention which can be attended by a delegation from the Basic Directorate of Narcotics Management (GDNC), who he intends to satisfy one on one, to current our findings and search the cooperation of our Saudi counterparts in guaranteeing that Mrs. Maryam Hussain Abdullahi, and the 2 others who stay stranded within the Kingdom, get the justice they deserve. If required, the CCEO can be ready to journey to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia personally to pursue this matter to its conclusion”, Babafemi said whereas assuring that Nigeria won’t ever abandon its residents, particularly when the information clearly present that they’re victims of legal conspiracies.
The Company assured the general public of its dedication to battle the scourge of substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking within the nation including that “whereas there aren’t any sacred cows in our enforcement duties which could be attested to by the variety of high-profile arrests, seizures, convictions and forfeitures recorded, it won’t help the harmless being punished for crimes they didn’t commit.”
“Whereas investigations proceed, the CCEO will like to understand the Hon. Min of Aviation and Aerospace Improvement, the Managing Director of FAAN, the AVSEC and the DSS for his or her collaboration on this case and for the interim measures which have been authorized in MAKIA to stop a reoccurrence of this kind of state of affairs,” he said.
