The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 55-year-old drug kingpin, Mohammed Ali Abubakar, also known as Bello Karama, along with five members of his syndicate operating at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano.
The suspects were linked to the trafficking of illicit substances that led to the arrest of three unsuspecting Nigerians currently detained in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for alleged drug trafficking.
NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this on Monday, August 25, 2025, at a press conference in Abuja, alongside senior officials of the agency.
According to Babafemi, the agency launched an investigation after receiving complaints from the families of the detainees—Mrs. Maryam Hussain Abdullahi, Mrs. Abdullahi Bahijja Aminu, and Mr. Abdulhamid Saddiq—who were arrested in Saudi Arabia after performing the lesser hajj pilgrimage. The three pilgrims had boarded Ethiopian Airlines flight ET940 from Kano on August 6, but their names were fraudulently tagged to six extra bags, three of which contained illicit drugs.
NDLEA said its investigation revealed that the bags were checked in by the syndicate through staff of Skyway Aviation Handling Company without the knowledge of the pilgrims. The drugs were traced to Abubakar, who traveled to Jeddah on the same day via Egypt Air, while his accomplices checked in the incriminating bags under the pilgrims’ names.
Six suspects, including Abubakar, are in custody, with four—Abubakar, Abdulbasit Adamu, Murtala Akande Olalekan, and Celestina Emmanuel Yayock—already charged to court. The agency said confessional statements and financial transactions linked them to the crime.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), is expected to meet with officials of the General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC) in Saudi Arabia at an international drug conference to present the agency’s findings and seek the release of the detained Nigerians.
“The evidence gathered shows the three detainees are victims of circumstance, falsely implicated by a criminal syndicate,” Babafemi said, assuring that Nigeria would not allow its innocent citizens to be punished abroad.
The agency also pledged to tighten airport security to prevent similar incidents in the future, noting the collaboration of the Ministry of Aviation, FAAN, AVSEC, and DSS in the ongoing probe.
