The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has apprehended a 55-year-old alleged drug baron, Mohammed Abubakar, also known as Bello Karama, alongside five members of his criminal network accused of operating at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.
The group is said to specialise in secretly planting illicit substances in passengers’ luggage.
The agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, who briefed journalists in Abuja on Monday, disclosed that the arrests came after investigations linked the syndicate to a case in Saudi Arabia where three unsuspecting Nigerian pilgrims were being held in Jeddah for alleged drug trafficking.
According to Babafemi, the suspects are now in custody.
The NDLEA explained that the arrests followed petitions to its Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (retd), by three families whose relatives were detained in Saudi Arabia after returning from the lesser hajj pilgrimage.
The agency revealed that the victims, Mrs. Maryam Abdullahi, Mrs. Abdullahi Aminu, and Mr. Abdulhamid Saddiq, boarded Ethiopian Airlines flight ET940 from Kano to Jeddah via Addis-Ababa on August 6, 2025. They were unknowingly implicated after six extra bags, three of which contained drugs, were checked in under their names.
“Mrs. Abdullahi while embarking on this flight, only checked in one luggage weighing 9 kilograms on August 6, 2025, which incidentally did not arrive with her to her destination.
“Her husband was only informed of the arrival of their luggage on August 16, a day before the date of their departure from Jeddah which was to be on August 17, 2025. Following this allegation, she was detained in Jeddah and is still in detention till date.
“The case of the other two persons followed the same pattern and were reported to the agency shortly after Hussain’s complaint.”
The NDLEA added that its swift probe uncovered how the drugs were linked to the suspects.
“The bags containing illicit drug substances intercepted in Saudi Arabia were checked in against the complainants’ names by members of a criminal syndicate operating in Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport without the knowledge of the three complainants.
“All the bags were traced to one Ali Mohammed (aka Bello Karama), the leader of the syndicate who checked them into the Ethiopian Airline on August 6, 2025, the same day the three complainants travelled on board the same airline from Kano enroute Addis-Ababa to Jeddah.
“It is interesting to note that the said Ali Mohammed who also travelled to Jeddah on the same date boarded Egypt Air rather than Ethiopian Airline where he checked in his contaminated bags.
“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. In the light of the forgoing, and the evidence gathered by the Agency in the course of our investigation.”
