{"id":175071,"date":"2025-08-19T19:03:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T18:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/nigerian-woman-detained-in-saudi-arabia-over-airline-error"},"modified":"2025-08-19T20:03:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T19:03:55","slug":"nigerian-woman-detained-in-saudi-arabia-over-airline-error","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerian-woman-detained-in-saudi-arabia-over-airline-error","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian Woman Detained in Saudi Arabia Over Airline Error"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Confusion has trailed the detention of a Nigerian pilgrim in Saudi Arabia after her name was allegedly linked to a suspicious bag wrongly tagged by Ethiopian Airlines.<\/p>\n<p>The woman, Maryam Hussaini-Abdullahi, who travelled with her husband, Abdullahi Baffa, for the lesser Hajj on August 6, was stopped from returning home after Saudi authorities claimed her details were tied to a \u201cGhana-must-go\u201d sack containing substances believed to be marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>According to Baffa, the couple travelled with just two bags that were cleared at Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, but their luggage was declared missing upon arrival in Jeddah.<\/p>\n<p>He said the airline asked them to wait 48 hours for feedback after filling a complaint form.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had no spare clothes, so we had to buy new ones in Madinah,\u201d Baffa explained. \u201cAbout eight days later, I was told one of the bags was available for pickup, but I refused and asked that it be returned to Nigeria instead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ordeal worsened when the couple attempted to board their return flight. Immigration officials cleared Baffa\u2019s documents but barred Maryam, referring them to an investigation centre in Makkah.<\/p>\n<p>At the centre, Saudi officers alleged that her name was linked to a suspicious bag. But upon inspection, the luggage tag number did not match those issued to the couple. Still, Maryam was ordered into detention pending further investigation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe told me the investigators showed her a Ghana-must-go sack with strange items inside. She has no connection whatsoever to that bag,\u201d Baffa insisted, accusing Ethiopian Airlines of negligence and a possible cover-up.<\/p>\n<p>He further claimed that airline representatives privately admitted the bag\u2019s contents were \u201cnot incriminating\u201d and promised resolution, yet his wife remains in custody.<\/p>\n<p>The Nigerian Consulate in Madinah has since stepped in, with officials confirming they are following up with Saudi authorities.<\/p>\n<p>Consul General Muazam Nayaya said the mission had received a formal complaint and would forward its findings to Abuja.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, a staff member of Ethiopian Airlines told newsmen that the matter was under investigation, noting the complexity of tracing luggage through multiple transit points.<\/p>\n<p>Baffa has called on the Nigerian government to intervene urgently and demanded that CCTV footage from Kano airport be released to prove his wife\u2019s innocence.<\/p>\n<p>Libya, Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern countries maintain some of the world\u2019s toughest drug laws, with possession of narcotics often attracting severe penalties, including death.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Confusion has trailed the detention of a Nigerian pilgrim in Saudi Arabia after her name was allegedly linked to a suspicious bag wrongly tagged by Ethiopian Airlines. The woman, Maryam Hussaini-Abdullahi, who travelled with her husband, Abdullahi Baffa, for the lesser Hajj on August 6, was stopped from returning home after Saudi [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":175070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,30],"tags":[254,570],"class_list":["post-175071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-nigeria","tag-saudi-arabia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nigerian Woman Detained in Saudi Arabia Over Airline Error - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Confusion has trailed the detention of a Nigerian pilgrim in Saudi Arabia after her name was allegedly linked to a suspi ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerian-woman-detained-in-saudi-arabia-over-airline-error\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nigerian Woman Detained in Saudi Arabia Over Airline Error\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Confusion has trailed the detention of a Nigerian pilgrim in Saudi Arabia after her name was allegedly linked to a suspi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerian-woman-detained-in-saudi-arabia-over-airline-error\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-19T18:03:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-19T19:03:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1755617779.728605.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1140\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerian-woman-detained-in-saudi-arabia-over-airline-error#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerian-woman-detained-in-saudi-arabia-over-airline-error\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Nigerian Woman Detained in Saudi Arabia Over Airline Error\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-19T18:03:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-19T19:03:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerian-woman-detained-in-saudi-arabia-over-airline-error\"},\"wordCount\":417,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerian-woman-detained-in-saudi-arabia-over-airline-error#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1755617779.728605.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\",\"Saudi arabia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerian-woman-detained-in-saudi-arabia-over-airline-error#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerian-woman-detained-in-saudi-arabia-over-airline-error\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/nigerian-woman-detained-in-saudi-arabia-over-airline-error\",\"name\":\"Nigerian Woman Detained in Saudi Arabia Over Airline Error - 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