Umrah fraud victim 'Saadeya' arrives in Cairo after 4-month detention in KSA

CAIRO - 18 July 2018: Egyptian elderly woman, Saadeya, who was detained for four months by Saudi authorities over drugs smuggling charges, returned home on Wednesday after dropping all charges against her.

The old lady was met with joy and celebrations by her family and relatives at Cairo International Airport.



Saadeya, 74, from Nabaruh Village in Dakahlia governorate, northeast of Cairo, was tricked by her neighbor Abdullah who claimed a Saudi man has donated Umrah fees for 15 individuals, including her, to travel to Mecca, using her to smuggle a bag of drugs. Saadeya was kept under arrest once she landed in the Kingdom on March 20 as the bag was found to contain 75,000 Tramadol tablets and other drugs.

The Egyptian consulate in Jeddah has delivered the investigations’ results carried out by the Egyptian prosecution to the Saudi authorities, where it approved that Saadeya was a victim of a conspiracy plotted by her neighbor, and demanded Saudi King Salman bin Abdel Aziz to interfere and release the old lady.

A number of local newspapers quoted Egyptian Ambassador to KSA Hazim Ramadan as saying that the Saudi officials closed the case, in which Saadeya and another Egyptian man, Tamer Othman were accused, after proving that they were not aware of the bag’s content.

Dakahlia investigative police arrested Abdullah, who was hiding inside an apartment; he admitted that he plotted to smuggle drugs with the help of people in his village and Saudi Arabia.