Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a notorious female drug kingpin, Shodunke Yetunde Simbiat, nearly 20 months after a major drug cartel led by a husband-and-wife duo, Bolanle Lookman Dauda and Olayinka Toheebat Dauda, was dismantled in Lagos and Ogun States.
The earlier operation led to the recovery of multi-billion-naira consignments of illicit drugs from the couple, while Shodunke went into hiding shortly after the crackdown in May 2024.
Confirming the arrest on Sunday, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the suspect was eventually tracked to her residence in Lagos, where operatives recovered an additional 23.50 kilograms of a Class A drug hidden inside her children’s room.
Babafemi recalled that the kingpins, Lookman and his wife, Toheebat, were arrested on Saturday, May 25, 2024, by operatives of NDLEA’s special operations unit at Ibiye along the Lagos–Badagry Expressway while attempting to cross the land border to deliver a drug consignment to Ghana.
He said that at the point of their arrest, 42 blocks of cocaine weighing 47.5 kilograms were recovered from them. A follow-up operation at their residence at Plot 24/25, OPIC Extension, Petedo Road, Agbara, Ogun State, led to the seizure of an additional eight blocks of cocaine weighing 10 kilograms, bringing the total quantity recovered from the couple to 57.5 kilograms.
“Determined to rein in every member of the syndicate, the NDLEA operatives continued with 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 31 Onasanya Street, Surulere, Lagos residence on Tuesday 9th December 2025.
“A thorough search of her home led to the discovery of blocks of cocaine weighing 23.50 kilograms concealed in a black suit case recovered from her children’s room. She admitted ownership of the drug consignment worth over N5 billion in street value,” Babafemi explained.
In a related development, NDLEA operatives at the Terminal II Departure Hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, December 18, 2025, arrested a 36-year-old businessman, Nwanwene Robinson Destiny, with 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.
According to the NDLEA spokesperson, the suspect claimed that if successfully trafficked, the opioids would have earned him €200 from the intended recipient in Italy.
In another operation, NDLEA officers at the Seme border area of Badagry, Lagos, on Thursday, December 18, arrested a 48-year-old Beninoise, Leocardi Josu, while attempting to enter Nigeria with 3,400 tablets of tramadol 225mg. In a separate arrest, a 30-year-old suspect, Abdullahi Adamu, was apprehended 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 from a Toyota Hiace bus with registration number XD 592 AWL along the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway. In the same state, 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, 2025.
Also, a total of 405 kilograms of skunk was seized when NDLEA operatives raided 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, another suspect, Jamilu Zakari, 42, was apprehended with 14,960 pills of tramadol 225mg at a toll gate along the Abuja–Kaduna Highway.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives intercepted a consignment of opioids concealed in two sacks of kolanuts (huhun goro) being transported from Abuja to Gusau, Zamfara State.
