Former Senate Deputy President Dr. Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, have been arrested and detained by police in the United Kingdom.
The Nigerian politician and his wife were accused of conspiring to bring a child to the UK in order to harvest organs.
The charges were brought against them by the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Crime team.
The police said an investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offenses under modern slavery legislation in May 2022.
Ekweremadu and his wife will now appear at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, 23rd of June.
The Uxbridge Magistrate Court in London has denied bail to former deputy Senate President and his wife Beatrice over claims that they trafficked a 15-year-old boy from Lagos to the UK with the intent to harvest his organ.
According to Arise TV, the prosecutors at the court this afternoon, said the Ekweremadus’ were being charged for bringing the 15-year-old boy from Nigeria to the UK with the claim that he was to be given a better life in the UK but was actually to harvest his organ. The prosecutors told the court that the former Senate President procured a passport for the boy and claimed he was 21 years old but they discovered that he was 15 years old.
The prosecutors also told the court that the Ekweremadus’ have a daughter who has a kidney-related disease and has been on dialysis for quite some time. They told the court that it is believed that the plan was to use an organ from the boy on their daughter who appears to need a kidney transplant.
Ekweremadu and his wife had separate legal representations and prayed the court to release them on bail but their prayer was however dismissed by the Magistrate.
The couple has surrendered their passports to the UK government.
The couple was arrested at Heathrow airport, on their way to Istanbul, Turkey and according to the prosecutors, it is believed that they were on their way to procure another organ as they were unable to harvest the organ of the boy. The prosecutors also stated that $20,000 was found on Mr. Ekweremadu.
According to AriseTV, the red flag that stopped the organ from not being harvested came after the boy truthfully disclosed his age to the doctors at the Royal Free hospital in the UK. The doctor reportedly canceled the procedure. The boy was taken from family who according to the prosecutors treated him like a slave, after he escaped and found his way to the police where an investigation started, leading to the arrest of the couple.
After much deliberation, the Magistrate ordered their remand in custody till July 7 for the next hearing on the case.
According to Sky News, the child has now been safeguarded.
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