THREE NIGERIANS ACQUITTED OF DRUG RELATED OFFENCE IN SAUDI ARABIA
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BY JENN NOMAMIUKOR
Three Nigerian citizens, who had been held in Saudi Arabia since August 2025, have been freed. Saudi authorities found out they were not involved in an attempt to bring banned items into Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz International Airport.
A spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, shared this news in a statement on Wednesday.
The statement said, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Consulate General of Nigeria in Jeddah, has arranged the release and removed the travel ban on three Nigerian citizens: Abdulhamid Sadieq, Maryam Hussein Abdullahi, and Bahijah Aminu Abdullahi.
They were arrested in August 2025 at the King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.”
It also mentioned that the three were arrested because banned items were found in luggage.
These items were wrongly connected to their boarding passes by organized criminals, without their knowledge.
According to the ministry, once the arrests were reported, the Consul General of Nigeria in Jeddah, Amb. Muazam Nayaya immediately contacted the Saudi authorities and notified Abuja.
“Amb. Muazam Nayaya, the Consul General of Nigeria in Jeddah, immediately engaged Saudi authorities and reported the matter to headquarters in Abuja, while also requesting the intervention of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency to support investigations,” the statement said.
The mission also “maintained continuous engagement with the host authorities, ensured regular prison visits, and arranged legal representation for the detainees.”
Saudi officials completed their checks and found that three Nigerians did nothing wrong. They were let go on September 14 and 15, 2025.
A temporary rule that stopped them from traveling was taken off.
The statement said that Maryam Abdullahi and Bahijah Abdullahi went back to Nigeria on November 5, 2025.
The ministry said that Sadieq’s travel ban was lifted on December 2, 2025, and that “the Nigerian Mission is currently finalising arrangements for his return.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked Riyadh for how they handled the situation.
They said that “the Saudi authorities showed good cooperation and professionalism throughout the process, and also recognized the important role played by the NDLEA and the Consulate in Jeddah in getting a fair result.”
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