NDLEA nabs fugitive cocaine queenpin 20 months after syndicate bust, seizes N5bn haul from kids’ room

Abdullateef Fowewe

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested Shodunke Yetunde Simbiat, a 39-year-old key member of a cocaine trafficking syndicate, in her Lagos home, recovering 23.50 kilograms of the class A drug hidden in her children’s room.

NDLEA Director of Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed in a statement on Sunday that the arrest comes “twenty months after a cocaine trafficking cartel led by a couple: Bolanle Lookman Dauda and Olayinka Toheebat Dauda was smashed in Lagos and Ogun state” by agency operatives, with multi-billion-naira worth of illicit drugs initially seized.

The kingpin couple was nabbed on May 25, 2024, at Ibiye along the Lagos-Badagry expressway while attempting to smuggle 47.5 kilograms of cocaine across the border to Ghana.

A follow-up raid on their Agbara residence in Ogun State yielded another 10 kilograms, totaling 57.5 kilograms from the pair.

“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 organization until” Simbiat, who had gone underground since May 2024, was tracked to her Surulere residence at 31 Onasanya Street on December 9, 2025.

A search uncovered the cocaine in a black suitcase, which she admitted owning, valued at over N5 billion on the street.

In a related airport bust, NDLEA officers at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Terminal II intercepted 36-year-old businessman Nwanwene Robinson Destiny on December 18 with 1,020 pills of tramadol 225mg and tapentadol 200mg hidden in his luggage.

He was set to board a flight to Milan, Italy, expecting €200 for the delivery.

NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised the operatives’ dexterity across units in Lagos, Seme, Kogi, Kaduna, Oyo, and Osun, urging heightened vigilance during the festive season: “ensure that highest standard of professionalism is maintained in all their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction activities all through the period and beyond.”