An Uxbridge Magistrate court in the United Kingdom, on Thursday, refused to admit Ike Ekweremadu and wife, Beatrice, to bail.
The Nigerian couple were arraigned for conspiracy to arrange the travel of a child, child trafficking, potential modern slavery, and organ harvesting.
The court denied bail to Ekweremadu 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.
The Ekweremadus were arrested by Specialist Crime Team of the Metropolitan Police in London and kept in custody before their arraignment on Thursday.
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.
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.
More to follow
