Zainab Aliyu, Nigerian Lady Who Was Framed For Drug Trafficking in Saudi Arabia Joins NDLEA

In Saudi Arabia, Zainab Aliyu, a woman, spent months in prison for a crime she did not commit before being released on April 30th, 2019.

Today, she has become an officer with the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

She passed out as SN Zainab Habib Kila on Friday, November 19, 2021.

The 25-year-old completed her Assistant Superintendent of Narcotics Course 15/2021 at the NDLEA Academy Katon Rikkos Jos.

She told BBC Pidgin that what happened to her in Saudi Arabia inspired her to become a drug law enforcer.

What happened to me in the year 2018 changed my life forever and inspired me to become an NDLEA officer so that I could contribute my own quota to the drug issue in Nigeria.

“They wrongly accused me of carrying drugs, so as I start work now, I will ensure that the correct investigation will always take place so as not to detain the wrong person.” Zainab Aliyu elaborated.

After her arrest in Saudi Arabia while traveling to perform less Hajj and Umrah in December 2018, the University graduate became a trend across Nigeria.

At that time, authorities in Saudi Arabia said she was carrying hard drugs. She spent four months in a Saudi Arabian prison where she faced the death penalty before Nigerian authorities and Attorney General Abubakar Malami secured her release.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) later arrested some workers in Aminu Kano airport who they claimed planted the drugs in Zainab’s luggage and she was not aware of it until they arrested her in Saudi Arabia.