By Deborah Nnamdi
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a suspected female drug kingpin and prominent member of a trans-border trafficking syndicate after a 20-month manhunt triggered by the earlier arrest of the group’s leaders.
The NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, saying the cocaine trafficking cartel had been dismantled in Lagos and Ogun states, with multi-billion-naira worth of illicit drugs recovered.
According to Babafemi, the syndicate was previously led by a couple, Bolanle Lookman Dauda and Olayinka Toheebat Dauda, who were arrested on Saturday, May 25, 2024, by operatives of a special operations unit along the Ibiye axis of the Lagos–Badagry Expressway while attempting to cross the land border to Ghana. At the point of arrest, 42 blocks of cocaine weighing 47.5 kilograms were recovered from them.
A follow-up search of their residence at Plot 24/25 OPIC Extension, Petedo Road, Agbara, Ogun State, led to the recovery of an additional eight blocks of cocaine weighing 10 kilograms, bringing the total seizure from the couple to 57.5 kilograms.
Babafemi said the agency sustained intelligence-driven surveillance on the trans-border drug trafficking organisation, leading to the identification of a 39-year-old female stash keeper, Shodunke Yetunde Simbiat, as a key member of the syndicate. Simbiat, who reportedly went underground after the May 2024 arrests, was eventually 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 23.50 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a black suitcase recovered from her children’s room. Babafemi said the suspect admitted ownership of the consignment, estimated to be worth over ₦5 billion in street value.
In a related operation, NDLEA operatives at the Terminal II departure hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, December 18, intercepted a 36-year-old businessman, Nwanwene Robinson Destiny, while attempting to board a Royal Air Maroc flight to Milan, Italy. The suspect was found with 1,020 pills of tramadol 225mg and tapentadol 200mg concealed in his luggage. He reportedly told investigators that delivering the opioids to Italy would have earned him €200.
The agency also arrested a 48-year-old Beninoise, Leocardi Josu, at the Seme border area of Badagry, Lagos, on Thursday, December 18, while attempting to cross into Nigeria with 3,400 tablets of tramadol 225mg. In another operation, a 30-year-old suspect, Abdullahi Adamu, was nabbed along the Okene–Lokoja highway on Friday, December 19, with 28.4 kilograms of skunk, a strain of cannabis, and Colorado, a synthetic cannabis.
Babafemi said the arrests underscore the agency’s resolve to dismantle drug trafficking networks and bring all members of such syndicates to justice.
