The Saudi Arabian authorities have arrested three pilgrims from Kwara State for alleged possession of substance suspected to be cocaine.
The Executive Secretary of the Kwara Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Hajiya Fatima Abolore-Jimoh, who confirmed the arrest on Wednesday from Saudi Arabia in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, said that the three pilgrims were among the first batch of 505 Pilgrims from Kwara State.
She said that they were arrested in Madinnah by Saudi Arabia security operatives.
The executive secretary, who did not disclose the identities of the three suspects, said they were still in the custody of Saudi Arabian authorities.
Abolore-Jimoh said that the Saudi Arabian law would take its course on the three suspected drug traffickers, describing the arrest as unfortunate and painful in spite of several appeals to them to be good ambassadors of Kwara State and Nigeria.
The executive secretary said that other pilgrims from the state are still in Madinnah, hale, healthy and in good spirit in spite of the unfortunate incident.
About 1,978 pilgrims from the state are expected to perform the 2016 pilgrimage exercise. [myad]
