Apeh Reuben, the Commander of the National Drug Law enforcement Agency, Kwara State Command, has attributed the arrest of three pilgrims in Saudi Arabia to lack of scanning machine at the llorin International Airport.
Reuben said the three suspects were among the first batch of 505 pilgrims transported to Saudi Arabia by the Kwara Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board from the llorin International Airport.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria in Ilorin on Friday that the pilgrims came from Lagos State to avoid being detected at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, which had the facilities.
The commander explained that the suspects swallowed the substance, which made it difficult for NDLEA officials at the Ilorin airport to detect drugs hidden in their stomach.
Reuben appealed to the Federal Government to provide scanning machines and other gadgets at the llorin international airport to forestall possible future occurrence.
In a related development, an lslamic Cleric, Dr. Abubakar Aliagan, has described the arrest of the three suspects in the holy land over drugs as an embarrassment to Nigeria.
Aliagan of the Department of lslamic Studies, University of llorin, said the security at the llorin airport was too porous to detect drugs hidden by air bound passengers.
He also called on the Federal Government to provide necessary gadgets in all the international airports in the country to enhance detection and arrest of drug pushers.