Hajj Board Debunks Arrest of Pilgrims in Saudi Arabia

Alhaji Illiasu, spokesperson for the National Hajj Board, which supervises the travel of Muslims from Ghana to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has debunked media reports that some Ghanaian pilgrims had been arrested in possession of Cola nuts, which is a banned substance in Mecca.

According to him, the Ghanaian pilgrims were thoroughly searched at the airports before they left the shores of the country, and that there was no way anyone could have been arrested with any banned substance.

“Aside being thoroughly searched, we also made sniffer dogs to go through their belongings so it is impossible for any pilgrim to carry illegal goods”.

Speaking on Kessben FM in Kumasi, the spokesperson said the pilgrims were well educated so none of them would dare travel with an illegal item.

“The pilgrims went through series of checks at the airports before they left the shores of Ghana and none of them caused problems for us”, he noted.

Alhaji Illiasu was hopeful that the Tamale Airport operations would end on Thursday and would be followed by the Accra operation to ferry the pilgrims to the Holy Land.

He saluted the Ghanaian media for their unalloyed support, which had contributed to making this year’s hajj very successful, so far.

Approximately 6,000 pilgrims will travel from Ghana to the holy city to perform Hajj, a key pillar in the Islamic religion, this year.

Out of the total number, over 3,300 of them would travel to Saudi Arabia from Accra, while 2,600 would also emplane from the Northern Regional capital of Tamale.

By: Kwadwo Essel