Barely one year and eight months after a cocaine trafficking cartel led by a couple: Bolanle Dauda and Olayinka Dauda was smashed in Lagos and Ogun state by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) with multi-billion-naira worth of the illicit drug recovered from them, another leader of the syndicate Shodunke Simbiat, has been apprehended in Lagos State.
As gathered, the suspect had went underground since May 2024 to avoid the agency personnel was nabbed in her Lagos home where additional 23.50 kilograms of the class A drugs were recovered the children’s room.
The kingpin Lookman and his wife, Toheebat, were arrested on Saturday 25th May 2024 by operatives of a special operations unit of NDLEA at Ibiye, along Lagos-Badagry expressway while attempting to cross the land border to deliver the consignment in Ghana.
At the point of their arrest, 42 blocks of cocaine weighing 47.5 kilograms were found on them. A swift follow up operation in their residence at Plot 24/25 OPIC extension, Petedo road, Agbara, Ogun state, led to the recovery of additional eight blocks of the same drug weighing 10kg, bringing the total weight of the consignment seized 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 organization until a 39-year-old Shodunke was identified as a key member of the DTO.
The NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, in a statement made available to newsmen on Sunday, disclosed the suspect was trailed to her 31 Onasanya street, Surulere, Lagos residence on Tuesday 9th December 2025.
According to the statement, “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 N5billion in street value.
“At the Seme border in Badagry area of Lagos, a 48-year-old Beninoise Leocardi Josu was on Thursday 18th December arrested by NDLEA officers while attempting to cross into Nigeria with 3,400 tablets of tramadol 225mg, even as a suspect Abdullahi Adamu, 30, was nabbed along Okene/Lokoja highway with 28.400kg skunk, a strain of cannabis and Colorado, a synthetic cannabis on Friday 19th December”.
