After refusing to consent to an operation at a London hospital, a 21-year-old man raised red flags.
A judge has announced that Nigeria’s former deputy Senate president will stand trial in the United Kingdom in January for alleged organ harvesting.
Ike Ekweremadu, 60, is accused of bringing a man from Nigeria to have a kidney removed with his wife, Beatrice, 56, their daughter, Sonia, 25, and a doctor.
The 21-year-old man is said to have raised the alarm after refusing to consent to the surgery after preliminary tests at London’s Royal Free Hospital.
The BBC reported that the Ekweremadu family allegedly treated the man like a slave before he ran away and went to Staines police station in Surrey.
Ekweremadu is a senator for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party for Enugu State in southeast Nigeria.
Ekweremadu and his family were arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport in June.
The family and the doctor, Obina Obeta, 50, are accused of conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view of exploitation.
Prosecutors say the kidney was meant for Sonia.
No pleas were entered when the defendants appeared at London’s Central Criminal Court on Monday.
Ekweremadu and Obeta were remanded into custody while Beatrice and Sonia were released on conditional bail.
Judge Mark Lucraft set another hearing date for December 16 and brought forward the defendants’ trial from May to January 31.