NDLEA Recovers N5bn Drugs From Female Trafficker After 20 Months Chase
A member of a cocaine trafficking cartel who has been on the run for 20 months, has been nabbed by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Lagos.
The suspect, Shodunke Yetunde Simbiat, went underground when the NDLEA bursted the cocaine trafficking cartel led by Bolanle Lookman Dauda and Olayinka Toheebat Dauda 20 months ago in Lagos and Ogun state. The operation led to the recovery of multi-billion-naira worth of the illicit drug.
Simbiat who went underground since May 2024 was nabbed in her 31 Onasanya street, Surulere, Lagos residence on Tuesday 9th December 2025, where additional 23.50 kilograms of the class A drug were recovered from her children’s room.
According to the agency, she admitted ownership of the drug consignment worth over N5 billion in street value.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos on Thursday 18th December intercepted a 36-year-old businessman Nwanwene Robinson Destiny with a total of 1,020 pills of tramadol 225mg and tapentadol 200mg concealed in his luggage while on his way to Italy.
He claimed the successful trafficking of the opioids to Italy would have fetched him Two Hundred Euros from the person he was to deliver them to.
At the Seme border in Lagos, a 48-year-old Beninoise, Leocardi Josu was on Thursday 18th December arrested 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 on Friday 19th December.
On the same date in Oyo state, NDLEA operatives recovered 125,000 capsules of tramadol and 1,800 ampoules of pentazocine injection in a Toyota Hiace bus marked XD 592 AWL along Lagos-Ibadan expressway, while two suspects: Ogunlade Kazeem, 54, and Adeleke Ismail, 30, were arrested with 185.4 kilograms of skunk at Challenge motor park, Ibadan, on Wednesday 17th December.
Also, a total of 405kg skunk was seized when NDLEA operatives raided Owena/Ijesha forest in Osun state where a suspect Charles James, 45, was nabbed on Friday 19th December, while another suspect Jamilu Zakari, 42, was arrested with 14,960 pills of tramadol 225mg at tollgate, along Abuja – Kaduna highway same day. The consignment of opioids was concealed in two kolanut sacks coming from Abuja to Gusau, Zamfara state.
