Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) have arrested six individuals, three men and three women, suspected to be members of a banditry network operating in Northern Nigeria.
Naija News reports that the suspects were apprehended in the early hours of Tuesday at the Kaduna International Airport shortly after they arrived in the country from Saudi Arabia, where they had completed the Islamic pilgrimage, Hajj.
A senior security source who spoke on condition of anonymity with Sahara Reporters revealed that the operation took place at about 3:40am.
“Today, at 3:40 a.m., operatives of DSS arrested six suspected bandits, three men and three women, at the Kaduna Airport upon their return from Hajj,” the source said.
According to the insider, the suspects had just disembarked from a return flight conveying Nigerian pilgrims when they were intercepted by operatives of the DSS already stationed at the airport.
The identities of the suspects were not immediately made public, but intelligence reports are said to have linked them to banditry operations that have plagued several parts of Northern Nigeria in recent years.
The latest arrest is coming just weeks after a similar high-profile operation was carried out at the Sultan Abubakar International Airport, Sokoto.
On May 19, 2025, a notorious kidnap kingpin, Sani Galadi, was arrested at the Sokoto airport as he attempted to board a flight for the 2025 Hajj pilgrimage.
Galadi, who was reportedly on the DSS watchlist, was nabbed at the Hajj terminal during a routine screening exercise.
A DSS source confirmed, “He was arrested at the Hajj terminal while undergoing a final screening before their departure for the holy land today. He is currently under investigation and will be charged to court upon the completion of interrogation.”
Following Galadi’s arrest, there were speculations regarding which state he was travelling from. However, Faruk Umar, a top official of the Sokoto State Pilgrims Welfare Agency, clarified that the suspect was not among the Sokoto delegation.
“I also heard about the arrest, but I can comfortably tell you that the suspect is not a pilgrim from Sokoto but from Zamfara State,” Umar said.
He further explained that Sokoto pilgrims were not scheduled to travel that day, indicating that only Zamfara pilgrims were in transit at the time of the arrest.
He said, “Sokoto pilgrims are not travelling today. It’s only those from Zamfara that will move today. The next flight for Sokoto is tomorrow, so definitely the arrested suspect is from Zamfara and not Sokoto.”
The DSS has reportedly ramped up intelligence efforts around Hajj flights amid rising concerns that criminal elements could be attempting to use the pilgrimage as cover to evade security scrutiny or escape justice.
Umar confirmed that DSS screening at Hajj terminals was part of a broader agreement with state pilgrim welfare agencies to ensure secure and incident-free travel for Nigerian pilgrims.
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