Police arrest 3 suspects for alleged Saudi Arabia-bound human, drug trafficking

Two husbands, who reported a suspected female drug trafficker to the police in Kano, have been arrested for being complicit in the trafficking of cocaine to Saudi Arabia.

SP Abdullahi Kiyawa, spokesman of the Kano State Police Command, said that upon investigation it was found out that the two men were part of courier arrangement in which their wives were detailed to deliver some quantity of cocaine to a certain lady at a Saudi Arabia airport.

In a statement Kiyawa issued on Friday in Kano, one Auwal Ishaq of Kawo Quarters and Idris Sani Suleiman of Medile Quarters Kano jointly reported the female suspect, Hajiya Sharifat Abdullahi of Kuregen Sani Hotoro, Kano, to the police.

According to the police, sometime in June, Hajiya Abdullahi contacted Ishaq to allow his two wives to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj and also contacted Suleiman for the same reason.

Kiyawa, in the statement, said Ishaq claimed to have paid N6 million on behalf of his two wives, while Suleiman also claimed to have paid N3 million for his wife to be part of the pilgrimage.

The police spokesman said that the three women headed for the Hajj on the understanding that they would assist in conveying some undisclosed substance, suspected to be cocaine, to Saudi Arabia.

The police spokesman said that both complainants became worried when after the departure of their wives to the Holy Land, they lost contact with them and all efforts to reach them proved abortive.

He added that this prompted them to lay complaints at the police command.

“On Aug. 11, Auwal came to police with disturbing information he received through a phone call from one of his wives that after the completion of the Hajj, they were arrested by the Saudi Arabian authorities for offences bordering on drug trafficking,“ Kiyawa said.

He pointed out that added that police investigation led to the arrest of the principal suspect, Abdullahi, who eventually confessed that the two complainants, Ishaq and Suleiman, were also part of the deal and were well aware that their wives would be used as drug couriers.

Abdullahi told the police that the three women were detailed to deliver the substance to be a certain lady who would be awaiting them at a Saudi Arabian airport.

According to the police spokesman, Ishaq’s two wives were promised N1 million each on return from the trip, while Suleiman’s wife was to N150,000 for playing the role of a middleman.

“She (Abdullahi) also confessed to have been conspiring with the second complainant (Suleiman) in recruiting people for a Kano-based cartel of human and drug traffickers.

“Consequently, the two complainants became accused persons and were both arrested”, Kiyawa said.

Meanwhile, the command has transferred the case to the state office of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for the completion of the investigation.