Madinah-bound Nigerian arrested in Abuja for drugs

Basira Binuyo Iyabo. (Photo by Premium Times)

RIYADH: A Nigerian Haj pilgrim bound for Madinah was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, when she was tested positive for narcotics.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Nigeria arrested Basira Binuyo Iyabo, 55, a pilgrim heading for Madinah to perform the annual pilgrimage, after she tested positive for narcotics.
The woman pilgrim has so far excreted 76 drug pellets that tested positive for cocaine. ”She is still under observation until the drugs are completely expelled,” Hamisu Lawan, NDLEA commander at the Abuja airport, told a local Nigerian newspaper.
The suspect, who was arrested during the outward screening of passengers on an Emirate flight to Madinah through Dubai, is a trader at the Dosumu market in Lagos. She hails from the Irepodun local government area of Kwara State, and is married with three children.
“I wanted to expand my cosmetics business but I have no money. My sponsor offered to foot my expenses to Saudi on pilgrimage. I was excited until I was asked to take drugs along. I wanted to decline, but considering the offer of a million naira, I accepted. I swallowed the drugs in Lagos and took the flight to Abuja on my way to Madinah, but I was caught in the process,” she confessed.
Some 75,000 Haj pilgrims are expected this year from Nigeria. Most of them have already arrived, diplomatic sources said here, adding that the country’s government delegation will join pilgrims at the tail end of the Haj flights from Abuja.
The inaugural flight for the 2016 Haj for Nigerian pilgrims was flagged off by the governor of Sokoto state, Aminu Waziri Tambuwwal, at the Sultan Abubakar III Airport in Sokoto, on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari.