Shock in Lagos as female drug kingpin stashes cocaine in children’s room

Stanley Ihedigbo

Residents of Lagos were left in shock following the arrest of a female drug kingpin who concealed a large quantity of cocaine inside her children’s bedroom.

According to the Director, Media and Advocacy of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Femi Babafemi, twenty months after a cocaine trafficking cartel led by a couple, Bolanle Lookman Dauda and Olayinka Toheebat Dauda, was dismantled in Lagos and Ogun states—with multi-billion-naira worth of illicit drugs recovered—another leader of the syndicate has been arrested.

Babafemi said the suspect, Shodunke Yetunde Simbiat, who had gone underground since May 2024, was apprehended at her Lagos residence, where an additional 23.50 kilogrammes of cocaine, a Class A drug, was recovered from her children’s room.

The kingpin, Lookman Dauda, and his wife, Toheebat, were arrested on Saturday, May 25, 2024, by operatives of the NDLEA’s Special Operations Unit at Ibiye, along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, while attempting to cross the land border to deliver the consignment to Ghana.

At the point of arrest, 42 blocks of cocaine weighing 47.5 kilogrammes were found in their possession. A swift follow-up operation at their residence located at Plot 24/25, OPIC Extension, Petedo Road, Agbara, Ogun State, led to the recovery of an additional eight blocks weighing 10 kilogrammes, bringing the total seizure from the couple to 57.5 kilogrammes.

Determined to apprehend every member of the syndicate, NDLEA operatives sustained intelligence gathering and surveillance on the trans-border drug trafficking organisation until 39-year-old Shodunke Yetunde Simbiat was identified as a key member and stash keeper of the cartel.

She was subsequently tracked to her residence at 31 Onasanya Street, Surulere, Lagos, where she was arrested on Tuesday, December 9, 2025.

A thorough search of her home led to the discovery of 23.50 kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in a black suitcase recovered from her children’s room.
She reportedly admitted ownership of the drug consignment, which has an estimated street value of over ₦5 billion.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives at the Terminal II Departure Hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, December 18, 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 attempting to board a Royal Air Maroc flight to Milan, Italy, where he is based.

He claimed that the successful trafficking of the opioids to Italy would have earned him €200 from the recipient.

At the Seme Border in the Badagry area of Lagos, NDLEA officers on Thursday, December 18, arrested a 48-year-old Beninoise national, Leocardi Josu, while attempting to enter Nigeria with 3,400 tablets of tramadol (225mg).

Similarly, a suspect, Abdullahi Adamu, 30, was arrested along the Okene–Lokoja Highway with 28.4 kilogrammes of skunk, a strain of cannabis, and Colorado, a synthetic cannabis, on Friday, December 19.

In Oyo State, NDLEA operatives on Friday, December 19, recovered 125,000 capsules of tramadol and 1,800 ampoules of pentazocine injections from a Toyota Hiace bus with registration number XD 592 AWL along the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway.

Two suspects, Ogunlade Kazeem, 54, and Adeleke Ismail, 30, were also arrested with 185.4 kilogrammes of skunk at Challenge Motor Park, Ibadan, on Wednesday, December 17.

A total of 405 kilogrammes of skunk was seized when NDLEA operatives raided the Owena/Ijesha Forest in Osun State, where a suspect, Charles James, 45, was arrested on Friday, December 19. On the same day, another suspect, Jamilu Zakari, 42, was apprehended with 14,960 pills of tramadol (225mg) at a tollgate along the Abuja–Kaduna Highway.

The opioid consignment was concealed in two kola-nut sacks (huhun goro) reportedly transported from Abuja to Gusau, Zamfara State.

Across all commands and formations nationwide, NDLEA officers also sustained their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns in schools, places of worship, workplaces, and communities during the past week.

These activities included WADA enlightenment lectures for students and staff of secondary schools at the Women Development Centre, Awka, Anambra State; Youth Craft Village, Malumfashi, Katsina State; and members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, among others.

While commending the officers and men of the Special Operations Unit, MMIA, Seme, Kogi, Kaduna, Oyo, and Osun Commands for their professionalism, arrests, and seizures, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), urged them and their colleagues nationwide to remain extra vigilant during the festive season and to uphold the highest standards of professionalism in all drug supply and drug demand reduction activities during the period and beyond.