Officials of the Nigerian Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport have been arrested for helping a drug syndicate to plant illicit drugs in the luggage of travellers who boarded an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Saudi Arabia.

NDLEA’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja on Monday.

He said four of the six nabbed syndicate members have already been charged in court, including 55-year-old drug kingpin, Mohammed Ali Abubakar, aka Bello Karama, Abdulbasit Adamu, Murtala Akande Olalekan, and Celestina Yayock, whose actions led to the detention of three innocent Nigerians in Jeddah, after observing the lesser hajj pilgrimage.

Mr Babafemi said, “The three Nigerian pilgrims, Maryam Abdullahi, Abdullahi Aminu, and Abdulhamid Saddiq, boarded Ethiopian Airlines flight ET940 from Kano to Jeddah via Addis Ababa on August 6, 2025. Unknown to them, six extra bags, three of which contained illicit drugs, were checked in against their names.”

He explained that one of the victims, Ms Abdullahi, checked in only one bag weighing nine kilogrammes, but did not arrive at her destination.

“Her husband was only informed of the arrival of their luggage on August 16, a day before they departed from Jeddah. Following this, she was detained and remains in custody,” said the NDLEA spokesman. “The other two cases followed the same pattern.”

He added, “All the bags were traced to one Ali Abubakar Mohammed, aka Bello Karama, who checked them into the Ethiopian Airlines flight on the same day the three complainants travelled. Interestingly, he boarded EgyptAir instead of Ethiopian Airlines, where his contaminated bags were tagged in the names of the complainants.

“The bags illegally tagged against the complainants’ names are the ones intercepted in Saudi Arabia. For this reason, the three Nigerians were arrested and detained for crimes they did not know of. They have all made confessional statements. While Ali admitted bringing in seven bags, Celestina confessed to checking in two for a fee of N100,000.

“Another suspect, Jazuli Kabir, also confessed to checking in two bags for the same amount. We have receipts showing the transfer of N200,000 from Ali to Celestina, who then passed N100,000 to Jazuli.”

Stating that the arrests were made after NDLEA received petitions from three families whose relatives were detained in Saudi Arabia for alleged drug trafficking, Mr Babafemi assured that efforts are underway to liaise with Saudi authorities to free the detained Nigerians.

He said NDLEA chief Buba Marwa was attending an international drug conference where he would meet delegates from the Saudi authorities to present their findings.