NAHCON COMMENDS COURT JUDGEMENT
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has hailed the
judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja which sentence a Saudi-
bound passenger to 10 years imprisonment for drug-trafficking. The
intending pilgrim was caught last year on her way to Saudi Arabia for the
Holy Pilgrimage to Mecca for ingesting large quantity of hard drugs.
The Chairman/CEO of NAHCON, Barr. Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad,
MON, FCIA described the judgment as a positive development as it will
serve as deterrent to others who might be harbouring such idea.
He noted that the convict should count herself lucky been caught in
Nigeria as the offender would have bagged a death sentence if she had
succeeded in carrying the drugs to Saudi Arabia, where the offence
attracts death sentence.
The Chairman/CEO however warned intending pilgrims to shelve and
shun any action capable of tarnishing the image of the country as the
Commission in conjunction with the Directorate of State Security Service
(DSS) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have
put in place some strong action plan to achieve the objective of detective
and arresting the incidence of drug-trafficking among the pilgrims.
The NAHCON boss further enjoined the private Tour operators and the
state pilgrims Boards/Agencies particularly to implement the directive of
the Commission to embark on quality enlightenment campaign of their
pilgrims at designated centres to educate them on the dos’ and donts’ of
the Hajj exercise.
The Chairman, further commended the NDLEA and the Judiciary on the
speedy handling of the matter.
Uba Mana
Head of Media