Zainab Aliyu Kila, a Jigawa lady framed by a drug cartel while traveling for lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia in 2018, has joined the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
Miss 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 on Saturday, saying she was commissioned into the service of the agency 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 a 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, in connivance with Kano airport workers, tagged a luggage containing the drugs in her name.
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.