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Zainab Aliyu Kila, framed by a drug cartel while travelling for lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia in 2018, has been reported to have joined the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
Jigawa state-born Zainab Aliyu is among the 2,000 newly trained NDLEA officers commissioned at the agency’s academy in Jos, Plateau State on Friday.
Her father, Habibu Kila, confirmed the development to DAILY NIGERIAN on Saturday, saying she was commissioned into the agency’s service as Assistant Narcotic Officer.
On December 26, 2018, Miss Aliyu, then a student at Maitama Sule University, Kano, was arrested by Saudi authorities for allegedly travelling with luggage containing unlawful substances believed to be tramadol.
She had travelled through the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA, for Lesser Hajj with her mother, Maryam, and sister, Hajara.
At the Jeddah Airport, the Saudi Authorities intercepted the bag and later traced Miss Aliyu and arrested her in her hotel room.
She was charged and detained for four months by the Saudi Arabian anti-drug trafficking agency over alleged drug trafficking charges.
After several appeals by her parents, media, and civil society organization, authorities discovered that drug barons tagged luggage containing the drugs in her name in connivance with Kano airport workers.
She was released after Nigerian and Saudi authorities independently investigated the matter and established her innocence.
Miss Aliyu was released on April 30, 2019, and returned home two weeks after.
