The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has recorded major successes in its ongoing crackdown on drug trafficking, arresting key members of a trans-border cocaine syndicate and intercepting large consignments of opioids and cannabis across the country.
Twenty months after dismantling a cocaine cartel led by Bolanle Lookman Dauda and his wife, Olayinka Toheebat Dauda, NDLEA operatives have arrested another top member of the syndicate, Shodunke Yetunde Simbiat.
The 39-year-old suspect, who had been on the run since May 2024, was apprehended on Tuesday, 9 December 2025, at her residence on Onasanya Street, Surulere, Lagos.
A search of her home led to the recovery of 23.5 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a black suitcase kept in her children’s room. Shodunke confessed ownership of the drugs, which have an estimated street value of over N5 billion.
The original leaders of the cartel, Lookman and Toheebat Dauda, were arrested on 25 May 2024 along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway while attempting to cross into Ghana.
NDLEA officers recovered 47.5 kilograms of cocaine from them at the point of arrest, with an additional 10 kilograms later found in their Ogun State residence, bringing the total seizure to 57.5 kilograms.
In another operation, NDLEA officers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, intercepted a 36-year-old businessman, Nwanwene Robinson Destiny, at the Terminal II departure hall on Thursday, 18 December.
He was attempting to board a Royal Air Maroc flight to Milan, Italy, when 1,020 pills of tramadol and tapentadol were discovered concealed in his luggage. The suspect admitted he was promised €200 for delivering the drugs.
At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos State, a 48-year-old Beninoise national, Leocardi Josu, was arrested with 3,400 tablets of tramadol while attempting to enter Nigeria. Similarly, along the Okene–Lokoja highway, NDLEA operatives arrested Abdullahi Adamu, 30, with 28.4 kilograms of skunk and synthetic cannabis.
In Oyo State, officers recovered 125,000 capsules of tramadol and 1,800 ampoules of pentazocine injection from a Toyota Hiace bus along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Two suspects, Ogunlade Kazeem, 54, and Adeleke Ismail, 30, were also arrested with 185.4 kilograms of skunk at Challenge Motor Park, Ibadan.
Meanwhile, a raid on the Owena/Ijesha forest in Osun State led to the seizure of 405 kilograms of skunk and the arrest of a suspect, Charles James, 45. In Kaduna State, NDLEA officers intercepted 14,960 pills of tramadol concealed in kolanut sacks along the Abuja–Kaduna highway, arresting one Jamilu Zakari, 42.
Across the country, the Agency also sustained its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization campaign, reaching schools, worship centres, transport unions, and communities in states including Anambra, Katsina, and Ekiti.
Commending the officers involved in the operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), urged personnel nationwide to remain vigilant during the festive season and maintain the highest standards of professionalism in both drug supply and demand reduction efforts.
