Two Nigerians have been charged by the London Metropolitan Police with conspiring to bring a child to the UK for the purpose of harvesting organs, the police announced on Thursday.
The accused – a woman and a man – have the same names and ages as Nigeria’s former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and wife Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu.
The Metropolitan Authorities’s Specialist Crime Team conducted an investigation, according to the police, who provided the following information about the accused:
[A] Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55 (10.9.66), of Nigeria, is accused of conspiring to set up or aid another person’s travel with the intention of exploitation, specifically organ harvesting.
[B] Ike Ekweremadu, 60 (12.05.62) of Nigeria is charged with conspiracy to arrange/facilitate 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 police said.
The pieces of biographical data provided match the publicly available personal data of Mr Ekweremadu, a serving senator and former Deputy Senate President, and his wife.
From the Pandora Papers investigation, reporters learnt that Mr Ekweremadu is a london resident.
Mr Ekweremadu’s spokesperson, Uche Anichukwu, has been contacted but has yet to respond to our questions as of the time of this report.
“They have both been remanded in custody and will appear at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court later today,” London Met police said.
“As criminal proceedings are now underway we will not be providing further details,” Met said.
While the police did not state the gender of the child, they said “A child has been safeguarded and we are working closely with partners on continued support.”
