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BY ANTHONY OMOH
Two staff members of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO), Celestina Emmanuel Yayock and Jazuli Kabir, confessed to implicating Maryam Hussain Abdullahi and two other pilgrims. The perpetrators conspired with Ali Abubakar Mohammed, Abdulbasit Adamu and Murtala Akande Olalekan to orchestrate an act with the potential to put pilgrims at risk.
They accepted N100,000 each to tag pilgrims’ bags containing illicit substances. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said the men were part of a criminal syndicate.
This syndicate operated at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) in Kano. Maryam Hussain Abdullahi
A Pilgrimage Turned Nightmare
Following detection of these drugs, all three Nigerians pilgrims were detained in Saudi Arabia. Mrs. Maryam Hussain Abdullahi, Mrs. Abdullahi Bahijja Aminu, and Mr. Abdulhamid Saddiq were headed for execution if found guilty.
The pilgrims boarded an Ethiopian Airline flight ET940 on August 6, 2025. The flight was from Kano to Jeddah en route Addis-Ababa.
These three were unfortunately tagged with six extra bags. Three of these bags were found to contain illicit drugs. Marijuana Trafficking Plot
The statement from the NDLEA read: “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.”
Six members of the syndicate are in NDLEA custody. Four have been charged to court. They are the 55-year-old drug kingpin Ali Abubakar Mohammed (aka Bello Karama), Abdulbasit Adamu, Murtala Akande Olalekan, and Celestina Emmanuel Yayock.
The Criminal Conspiracy Unravels
Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the suspects made confessional statements. Ali admitted to bringing in seven bags. Celestina confessed to checking in two of them for N100,000. Another suspect, Jazuli Kabir, checked in two other bags and also collected N100,000. Ali traveled with the remaining three bags on Egypt Air. The NDLEA has receipts of the money transfer. The sum of N200,000 went from Ali to Celestina. Celestina then transferred N100,000 to Jazuli.
A swift NDLEA investigation uncovered the plot. It was prompted by complaints from the victims’ families. The bags were traced back to the drug kingpin, Abubakar. He was the mastermind behind the operation. The bags were secretly checked in by members of the criminal syndicate.
The two SAHCO staff, Yayock and Kabir, confessed to checking in the fraudulent bags in the name of the pilgrims. They were paid N100,000 each for the job. They are now in NDLEA custody, along with Abubakar and other syndicate members. They are facing multiple charges.
The Fight for Justice for Pilgrims
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), is engaging with his Saudi counterparts. He plans to present the agency’s findings to the General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC) in Saudi Arabia.
This is to prove the innocence of the three Nigerians. They are clearly victims of a criminal conspiracy.
The NDLEA statement read, “In the light of the foregoing, and the evidence gathered by the Agency in the course of our investigation, it is clear that Mrs. Maryam Abdullahi and two others who are being detained in Saudi are victims of circumstance, implicated by the activities of a criminal syndicate operating at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport.”
The NDLEA is committed to ensuring the innocent are not punished. They are working to bring the detained pilgrims home.
According to Babafemi, “While investigations continue, the CCEO will like to appreciate the Hon. Min of Aviation and Aerospace Development, the Managing Director of FAAN, the AVSEC and the DSS for their collaboration on this case and for the interim measures that have been approved in MAKIA to prevent a reoccurrence of this type of situation.”
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