A letter indicating that embattled former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, observed visa process for the boy he is said to have taken to London for kidney transplant has emerged.
In the letter addressed to the UK Embassy in Nigeria, Ekweremadu discloses his inention of getting the young man to London.
It reads:
Meanwhile, Ekweremadu, alongside his wife, Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, has been denied bail and remanded in custody by a United Kingdom court over allegation bordering on organ trafficking.
Ekweremadu and his wife were arrested and charged over their plan to bring a child into the UK to allegedly harvest the said child’s organs.
The charges involve arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting, according to a Met statement on Thursday.
As ‘The Punch’ reports, the victim whose travel was facilitated to UK by the suspects was said to be a homeless 15-year-old boy picked from the streets of Lagos under false pretense.
The statement added that the investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery legislation in May 2022.
The BBC reports that when the suspects appeared at the Uxbridge magistrates court in west London on Thursday and were asked by the clerk for their address, they both replied: “Nigeria”.
The court heard the prosecution needed permission to proceed because of jurisdiction issues, according to the BBC report.
“In respect of these offences, the (UK) Attorney General’s consent is required and the Crown require 14 days for that to be obtained,” Prosecutor Damla Ayas told the court.
Most of the alleged offences took place in the UK, magistrates heard.
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The Ekweremadus, who were arrested two days ago, have been remanded in custody to appear at the same court on July 7.
The suspects were arrested at Heathrow airport on their way to Instabul. Reports claim they were planning to procure a kidney from a donor in Turkey, after their initial plan failed.
