The kidney was reportedly intended for the Nigerian couple's 25-year-old daughter Sonia, who was exonerated of the organ trafficking accusation on Thursday, according to the Criminal Court in London.
Prosecutors claim that Sonia Ekweremadu needed "regular dialysis" due to her "deteriorating kidneys." Investigators "discovered evidence that Sonia Ekeweremadu's parents, Ike and Beatrice Ekeweremadu, plotted with Dr. Obeta to select victims in Nigeria whose kidneys might be harvested for her benefit."
The victim, a street vendor, was transported to London in February 2022 and "was held under the defendants' supervision and financial control. The victim was to donate a kidney to Sonia Ekweremadu in exchange for the indicated sum of either £2,400 or £7,000 and the assurance of employment in the UK, according to the conspirators' scheme "According to the prosecutor's statement.
In an effort to support the victim's temporary travel visa to the U.K., the defendants allegedly tried to persuade doctors at London's Royal Free Hospital that the victim and Sonia Ekweremadu were related.
The victim had passed a kidney screening, but a consultant doctor determined the donor was unfit after finding out he had had no counseling or guidance about the hazards of the surgery and lacked cash for the lifelong care he would need thereafter.
Officials were made aware of the case when the victim approached a local police station in West London and reported he had been trafficked from Nigeria and that someone was trying to transplant his kidney. Chief prosecutor in the case Joanne Jakymec described it as a "horrific plot to exploit a vulnerable victim by trafficking him to the U.K. for the aim of his kidney transplant."
The victim had little awareness of what was really going on, thus the convicted defendants "showed absolute contempt for the victim's safety, health, and well-being and utilized their enormous power to a high degree of control throughout," according to Jakymec.
A report by Interpol in 2021 indicated a large network of people are commonly involved in organ trafficking in North and West Africa, with connections to the medical industry in nations from the region. Methods utilized for illicit organ trafficking are often employed for other types of human trafficking, such as promises of career possibilities abroad, as well as the use of threats and violence, the research added
