Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested a female drug kingpin, Shodunke Yetunde Simbiat, in Lagos and recovered 23.50 kilograms of cocaine concealed in her children’s room, as the agency intensified nationwide operations that also led to the interception of Italy bound opioids and multiple arrests across states.
The disclosure was contained in a statement issued by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, from the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.
The arrest came twenty months after operatives smashed a cocaine trafficking cartel led by Bolanle Lookman Dauda and his wife, Olayinka Toheebat Dauda, in Lagos and Ogun states.
Shodunke, identified as a key stash keeper and leader within the same syndicate, had gone underground since May 2024 following the earlier arrests.
Lookman and Toheebat were apprehended on Saturday, May 25, 2024, by operatives of the NDLEA Special Operations Unit at Ibiye along the Lagos Badagry Expressway while attempting to cross the land border to Ghana with cocaine.
A total of 42 blocks of cocaine weighing 47.5 kilograms were recovered from them at the point of arrest.
A follow up search of their residence at Plot 24 and 25, OPIC Extension, Petedo Road, Agbara, Ogun State, led to the recovery of eight additional blocks of cocaine weighing 10 kilograms. This brought the total quantity seized from the couple to 57.5 kilograms.
Determined to dismantle the entire syndicate, NDLEA operatives sustained intelligence gathering and surveillance, which led to the identification of Shodunke Yetunde Simbiat, aged 39, as a principal member of the trans border drug trafficking organisation.
She was tracked to her residence at 31 Onasanya Street, Surulere, Lagos, where she was arrested on Tuesday, December 9, 2025.
A thorough search of her home resulted in the discovery of blocks of cocaine weighing 23.50 kilograms concealed in a black suitcase inside her children’s room.
The suspect admitted ownership of the drug consignment, which the agency said has an estimated street value of over N5 billion.
In a related operation, NDLEA operatives at the Terminal II departure hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, intercepted a 36 year old businessman, Nwanwene Robinson Destiny, on Thursday, December 18, while attempting to board a Royal Air Maroc flight to Milan, Italy.
He was found with 1,020 pills of tramadol 225mg and tapentadol 200mg concealed in his luggage.
According to the agency, the suspect claimed he would have been paid 200 euros upon successful delivery of the opioids in Italy, where he is based.
At the Seme border in the Badagry area of Lagos, a 48 year old Beninoise national, Leocardi Josu, was arrested on Thursday, December 18, while attempting to enter Nigeria with 3,400 tablets of tramadol 225mg.
Along the Okene Lokoja highway, NDLEA officers also arrested a 30 year old suspect, Abdullahi Adamu, with 28.4 kilograms of skunk, a strain of cannabis, and Colorado, a synthetic cannabis, on Friday, December 19.
In Oyo State, NDLEA operatives recovered 125,000 capsules of tramadol and 1,800 ampoules of pentazocine injection from a Toyota Hiace bus marked XD 592 AWL along the Lagos Ibadan Expressway on Friday, December 19.
Two suspects, Ogunlade Kazeem, 54, and Adeleke Ismail, 30, were also arrested with 185.4 kilograms of skunk at Challenge Motor Park, Ibadan, on Wednesday, December 17.
Similarly, a total of 405 kilograms of skunk was seized during a raid on the Owena Ijesha forest in Osun State, where a 45 year old suspect, Charles James, was arrested on Friday, December 19. On the same day, NDLEA officers arrested Jamilu Zakari, 42, at a tollgate along the Abuja Kaduna highway with 14,960 pills of tramadol 225mg concealed in two kolanut sacks en route from Abuja to Gusau, Zamfara State.
Across commands nationwide, the agency said it sustained its War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation activities during the week, with enlightenment programmes held in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities, including sessions in Anambra, Katsina and Ekiti states.
Commending the officers involved in the operations, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa, retired, urged personnel to remain vigilant.
He said, “I commend the officers and men of the Special Operations Unit, MMIA, Seme, Kogi, Kaduna, Oyo and Osun Commands for the arrests and seizures recorded.”
“They must remain extra vigilant during the festive season and ensure that the highest standard of professionalism is maintained in all drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts throughout this period and beyond.”
