UK court denies Ekweremadu and wife bail over alleged organ trafficking

Most of the offences took place in the United Kingdom.

Former Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice Ekweremadu have been denied bail and remanded in custody by a United Kingdom Court for allegations of organ trafficking.

This is coming few hours after it was reported that the couple were arrested for the said allegations in the UK.

According to the Punch, the Ekweremadus were charged formally by the UK Metropolitan Police with conspiring to facilitate organ trafficking.

In literal terms, Ekweremadu and his wife were arrested over plans to bring a minor to the UK to allegedly harvest the minor’s organs.

The minor, who is believed to be a homeless 15-year-old boy, was picked from the streets of Lagos under false pretence by the suspects.

A statement by the Metro Police states that the charges levelled against the suspects involve arranging and facilitating the travel of another person for exploitation, namely organ harvesting.

Additional information from the statement states that investigations were launched after detectives were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery legislation back in May.

The suspects appeared at the Uxbridge magistrates court in west London on Thursday where they both disclosed their address as Nigeria.

Meanwhile, because of jurisdiction issues, the case was adjourned to July 7 to obtain the consent of the UK’s Attorney General.

“In respect of these offences, the (UK) Attorney General’s consent is required and the Crown requires 14 days for that to be obtained,” a statement read.

It is believed that the Ekweremadus were arrested two days ago at the Hearthrow Airport on their way to Istanbul procure a kidney from a donor.

Upon his arrest, Ekweremadu was said to be in possession of $20,000.

Ekweremadu was a former Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, who served the country from 2007 to 2019. He has been a senator since 2003, and was recently made a visiting professor at the University of Lincoln, England.

In addition to that, he his a Nigerian lawyer who was called to bar in 1987.