Saudi Authorities Detain Nigerian Woman Following Airline Luggage Mix-Up

Makkah, Saudi Arabia, Maryam Hussaini-Abdullahi, a Nigerian citizen from Kano, has been arrested after officials allegedly connected her to a bag containing marijuana, which was mistakenly associated with her luggage by Ethiopian Airlines. The incident unfolded as Mrs. Abdullahi and her husband, Abdullahi Baffa, traveled from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia to perform a lesser Hajj on August 6.

Upon their arrival in Jeddah on August 7, the couple discovered that their luggage was missing. Baffa reported the lost bags to the airline’s luggage claim desk, and he was issued a complaint form, with a promise of feedback within 48 hours. With no changes, the couple managed to procure new essentials during their stay in Madinah.

After eight days, Baffa received a notification that one of their bags could be picked up in Jeddah, but he chose to decline the offer and instead requested that it return to Nigeria. The situation escalated dramatically when they returned to Madinah on Thursday for their return flight, only to learn that Mrs. Abdullahi was barred from traveling.

“Upon arrival for departure, I was informed that my wife was prohibited from traveling,” Baffa recounted. “Immigration officers directed us to the Rihab Centre in Makkah but, as it was Thursday, we were unable to reach them.”

Seeking assistance, they approached the Nigerian Consulate in Madinah, where the head of the consulate reached out to clarify the situation. Subsequently, they arrived at an investigation office in Makkah, where authorities linked Mrs. Abdullahi’s name to a bag containing suspicious items.

While security personnel compared the tags from the impounded bag with that of Mrs. Abdullahi’s luggage, they confirmed no match. Despite this, she remains detained pending further investigations. Baffa visited his wife in custody, where she described being shown a “Ghana must go” sack filled with wrapped items she claimed no knowledge of.

“My wife is completely innocent,” Baffa asserted, adding that a contact within the airline indicated that the contents of the bag were not incriminating and that the matter would be resolved soon. However, he questioned the rationale behind his wife’s detention and called it an act of criminality.

Baffa has appealed to the Nigerian government for urgent intervention in securing his wife’s release and requested video footage from their departure at the Aminu Kano International Airport to establish their innocence.

Ethiopian Airlines has stated that an investigation into the matter is underway, acknowledging the complexity due to multiple stations involved. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Consul General in Jiddah, Muazam Nayaya, confirmed the report had been received and that investigations were ongoing.

This incident echoes a similar case in December 2018, when Zainab Aliyu Kila, then a student at Yusuf Maitama Sule University in Kano, faced detention in Saudi Arabia for alleged drug trafficking due to a similar luggage mix-up. She was released in April 2019 after investigations revealed involvement from a criminal gang in conjunction with airport officials.

As this story develops, the Nigerian community and authorities are closely monitoring the situation and advocating for the rights of their citizens abroad.