The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has said its officials arrested a 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 is coming 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 by Femi Babafemi, Director of Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja.
Babafemi said 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.
Consequently, she waa followed to her residence at 31 Onasanya Street, Surulere, Lagos, on Tuesday, December 9, 2025. A 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.
