As Nigerian and Saudi authorities continue to bicker over the detention of Nigerian women in that country, reports reaching us say the Saudi authorities have begun deporting the detained female hajj pilgrims.

The first batch of 71 women from Katsina and Taraba States have already been deported and have arrived the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano (MAKIA) this evening.

The pilgrims arrived the airport aboard a Max Air aircraft with registration number 5N MM at about 4.58 pm., report says.

Four hundred female pilgrims from Nigeria, who arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for this year’s hajj,  were on Sunday separated from their male counterparts and detained by Saudi authorities for failing to provide their Muharrams  that is, the approved male companion accompanying them on their trip, usually their husbands, fathers or brothers.

There are reports that the number of detained women had risen to 1000 but that could not be independently verified by this newspaper.

The matter has sparked a fierce diplomatic row between the two countries, with the foreign ministers of the two countries unable to resolve the logjam.