To remain in Metropolitan Police custody till July 7
Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife, Beatrice, 55 were remanded in the custody of the Metropolitan Police on Thursday.
They were denied bail by Uxbridge Magistrate Court.
The Ekweremadus were remanded in the custody of the Police, as their case was adjourned to July 7, 2022.
They were earlier arrested for their alleged involvement in human trafficking and organ harvesting.
The husband and wife were arrested in the United Kingdom. It was gathered that the alleged victim in this case is a homeless child who was brought to the United Kingdom by the Ekweremadus off the streets of Lagos, Nigeria.
The child whose age and sex is unknown has been taken into care.
Organ harvesting involves removing parts of the body, often for commercial gain and against the will of the victim.
The police said the charges followed an investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Crime team and gave some details of the accused as follows:
Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55 (10.9.66) of Nigeria is charged with conspiracy to arrange/facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting.
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 police added that the investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery legislation in May 2022.
Ekweremadu had served three terms as Deputy Senate President between 2007 and 2019.
The lawyer and politician has been a senator since 2003 and belongs to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
He withdrew recently from the Enugu State PDP governorship primaries.
Ekweremadu’s spokesperson, Uche Anichukwu, has yet to respond to our questions as of the time of this report.
