The Specialist Crime Team of the Metropolitan Police in London arrested a former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and his wife, Beatrice.
They were arrested for alleged conspiracy to harvest the organs of a child, who is currently in UK government.
Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, was charged with conspiracy to arrange/facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting.
Ike Ekweremadu, 60, was charged with conspiracy to arrange/facilitate the travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting.
The investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery legislation in May 2022, the force said.
The alleged victim, in this case, is a homeless 15-year-old boy who was brought to the UK by Mr and Mrs Ekweremadu off the streets of Lagos, Nigeria. The boy was promised a better life. The prosecutors told the court that the former Deputy Senate President procured a passport for the boy and claimed he was 21 years old but discovered that he was 15 years old.
The Royal Free (hospital) cancelled the procedure and returned the boy to the custody of the family who treated him badly and he had to run away and slept on the streets for two days. It was while sleeping on the streets that the boy went to the police who investigated the matter and arrested the Ekweremadus at the Heathrow Airport on their way to Istanbul, Turkey, to procure another organ because they were unable to harvest the boy’s organ.
Ekweremadu was arrested with $20,000 in his possession. The senator and his wife got legal representation and begged the court for bail, stating that their passports had been seized but the judge denied them bail and remanded them in custody till July 7, 2022.
However, a UK court, on Friday sentenced Ekweremadu to nine years and eight months in jail for plotting to harvest the boy’s kidney for his sick daughter.
His wife, Beatrice was handed four years, six months sentence while Obinna Obeta, a medical doctor got a 10 years’ sentence for the same offence.
