Pilgrims

international

Saudi Arabia frees 3 Nigerian pilgrims held for drug trafficking

Saudi authorities have released three Nigerian pilgrims who were wrongfully detained in Jeddah last month on allegations of drug trafficking. The Director of Media and Advocacy of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Femi Babafemi, confirmed their release on Wednesday at a press briefing in Abuja. The freed pilgrims are Maryam Hussain Abdullahi, Abdullahi Bahijja Aminu, and Abdulhamid Saddieq. They had been held for four weeks after drugs were found in luggage fraudulently tagged with their names at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport before boarding an Ethiopian Airlines flight ET940 to Jeddah on August 6, 2025. Babafemi said their freedom followed “weeks of sustained engagements” by NDLEA Chairman, Brig Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), with Saudi Arabia’s General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC), backed by President Bola Tinubu and senior Nigerian officials including Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), Foreign […]

Abdulmumini Auwal SA September 17, 2025