A Nigerian man, Ibrahim Ibrahim, who was facing trial over
drug trafficking allegation in Saudi Arabia, has been released by the Saudi
Arabian authorities after the Nigerian government were able to prove his
innocence.
Mr Ibrahim's release was secured by the National Diaspora
Commission in collaboration with the government of Zamfara state, his home
state. He was arrested in 2017 in Jeddah after the Saudi Arabian immigration
officers found illegal drugs in his bags.
Three years after, a delegation from the Diaspora commission
and Zamfara state government, arrived in Jeddah with documents to be presented
as evidence during his trial retrial which was today February 18th. Amongst the
documents was a statement from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA,
stating that they have arrested and charged three persons who planted the drugs
on Ibrahim.
A certified copy of the two count charge sheet from the
Federal High Court Kano was also presented to the Saudi Arabia court which
ruled in favour of Ibrahim and discharged him.
Recall that another Nigerian, Miss Zainab Aliyu, a student
was also arrested in December 2018 in Saudi Arabia while performing the lesser
hajj over allegations that the bag bearing her name tag contained a banned
substance, Tramadol. She was later released in May 2019 after her innocence was
confirmed.
