The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has said its operatives have arrested another leader of a drug syndicate, Shodunke Yetunde Simbiat, at her Lagos home, where 23.50 kilograms of a Class A drug were recovered from her children’s room.
The NDLEA said the development comes 20 months after a cocaine trafficking cartel led by a couple, Bolanle Lookman Dauda and Olayinka Toheebat Dauda, was smashed in Lagos and Ogun states by its operatives.
This was announced in a statement on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, Director of Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja.
Babafemi disclosed that the kingpin, Lookman, and his wife, Toheebat, were arrested on Saturday, May 25, 2024, by operatives of a special operations unit of the NDLEA at Ibiye, along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, while attempting to cross the land border to deliver the consignment to Ghana.
According to the NDLEA, at the point of their arrest, 42 blocks of cocaine weighing 47.5 kilograms were found on them.
The agency stated that a swift follow-up operation at their residence at Plot 24/25, OPIC Extension, Petedo Road, Agbara, Ogun State, led to the recovery of an additional eight blocks of the same drug weighing 10 kilograms, bringing the total weight of the consignment seized from the couple to 57.5 kilograms.
Determined to rein in every member of the syndicate, NDLEA operatives continued follow-up intelligence and surveillance on the trans-border drug trafficking organisation until a 39-year-old female stash keeper, Shodunke Yetunde Simbiat, was identified as a key member of the DTO.
As a result, she was trailed to her residence at 31 Onasanya Street, Surulere, Lagos, on Tuesday, December 9, 2025. A thorough search of her home led to the discovery of blocks of cocaine weighing 23.50 kilograms concealed in a black suitcase recovered from her children’s room. She admitted ownership of the drug consignment, valued at over ₦5 billion in street value.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives attached to the Terminal II departure hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, December 18, intercepted a 36-year-old businessman, Nwanwene Robinson Destiny, with a total of 1,020 pills of tramadol 225mg and tapentadol 200mg concealed in his luggage while attempting to board a Royal Air Maroc flight to Milan, Italy, where he is based.
He claimed that the successful trafficking of the opioids to Italy would have fetched him €200 from the person to whom he was to deliver them.
At the Seme border in the Badagry area of Lagos, a 48-year-old Beninoise, Leocardi Josu, was on Thursday, December 18, arrested by NDLEA officers while attempting to cross into Nigeria with 3,400 tablets of tramadol 225mg. Meanwhile, a suspect, Abdullahi Adamu, 30, was nabbed along the Okene–Lokoja highway with 28.4 kilograms of skunk, a strain of cannabis, and Colorado, a synthetic cannabis, on Friday, December 19.
In Oyo State, NDLEA operatives on Friday, December 19, recovered 125,000 capsules of tramadol and 1,800 ampoules of pentazocine injection in a Toyota Hiace bus marked XD 592 AWL along the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, while two suspects, Ogunlade Kazeem, 54, and Adeleke Ismail, 30, were arrested with 185.4 kilograms of skunk at Challenge Motor Park, Ibadan, on Wednesday, December 17.
A total of 405 kilograms of skunk was seized when NDLEA operatives raided the Owena/Ijesha forest in Osun State, where a suspect, Charles James, 45, was arrested on Friday, December 19. Another suspect, Jamilu Zakari, 42, was arrested the same day with 14,960 pills of tramadol 225mg at a tollgate along the Abuja–Kaduna highway. The consignment of opioids was concealed in two kolanut sacks (huhun goro) coming from Abuja to Gusau, Zamfara State.
While commending the officers and men of the Special Operations Unit, MMIA, Seme, Kogi, Kaduna, Oyo, and Osun Commands for the arrests, seizures, and their dexterity, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to remain extra vigilant during the festive season and ensure that the highest standards of professionalism are maintained in all drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction activities throughout the period and beyond.
