Organ Harvesting & Trafficking (The Human Organ Trade)

[EnolaGaia]

“kidney count was low.” ...
It sounds unlikely. According to this article she would have had an incision up to 30cm long. If it had been removed using keyhole surgery there would still be a series of small cuts.

The "kidney count" bit made me chuckle ... But more seriously ...

I agree about the incision issue, though I don't know whether the BBL involves a cut close enough to reach a kidney.

The lack of detail renders this story a matter of hearsay from a YouTube self-promoter. As such, I'm not betting on its validity.

 

[Mythopoeika]

“kidney count was low.”
Precisely 50% of normal in fact.

It sounds unlikely. According to this article she would have had an incision up to 30cm long. If it had been removed using keyhole surgery there would still be a series of small cuts.

She had a tummy tuck as well. Plenty of opportunity to rummage about in the internals with that.

 

[Endlessly Amazed]

For about 10 years, my DH’s job was to fly around the US and negotiate prices with organ transplant hospitals and the doctors, and to support fund-raising for uninsured and underinsured families with a member in need of a transplant. At least for the cases in which he was involved, the paperwork and paper trail were very detailed. This is for legitimate transplants. All the recipients of transplants he worked with needed them because of genetic defects: 100%.

I have no idea in the US what percentage of transplanted organs (including skin, bone matrix, and other weird parts) were illegally harvested. I guess abut 10-20% based in no facts at all.

Thirty years ago, a Sandinista friend from Nicaragua was quite sure that the US killed poor people around the world and used their organs for Americans. She could not tell me why she thought this, only that everyone in Nicaragua knew this.

When I pointed out that totalitarian countries like China were more likely to do this, she refuted this because China, as a communist country, would never treat poor people like this.

 

[ramonmercado]

Update.

A prominent Nigerian senator has appeared in court in London for a second time charged with arranging to bring a child to the UK for organ donation.

Ike Ekweremadu, 60, stood in the dock at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court wearing a grey tracksuit and holding a bible. He will next appear at Westminster Magistrates' court on 7 July. No bail application was made and Mr Ekweremadu will remain in custody.

Part of the alleged offence was committed abroad and as a result the consent of the attorney general is required for the case to continue.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-61992856

Update.

A Nigerian senator is on trial charged with exploiting a 21-year-old to come to London and donate a kidney.

Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, their daughter Sonia, 25, and an associate, Dr Obinna Obeta, 50, allegedly broke modern slavery laws. The Old Bailey heard on Monday that Mr Ekweremadu illegally paid a street trader from Lagos, to travel to the UK, for a donation to help Sonia, who suffers from a kidney disease. The defendants deny the charges.

Opening the case, prosecutor Hugh Davies KC said Mr Ekweremadu's "status and influence had produced a significant degree of wealth".
The family from Willesden Green, north-west London, had "international connections" he said. Sonia Ekweremadu's condition, he said, could have been alleviated or cured by a kidney transplant, and the family was "close, open and loving", with a "direct interest in Sonia's medical treatment."

But, he told the jury, rewarding someone for a kidney donation was illegal. He said there was an "obvious risk that those providing organs for transplantation for reward are likely to come from the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society."

The defendants have been charged under modern slavery legislation which makes it an offence to "arrange or facilitate the travel" of a person to the UK for exploitation. This offence carries a higher potential sentence of life, compared to a maximum of three years for illegally making an organ donation.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-64541456

 

[ramonmercado]

Update.

A Nigerian senator is on trial charged with exploiting a 21-year-old to come to London and donate a kidney.

Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, their daughter Sonia, 25, and an associate, Dr Obinna Obeta, 50, allegedly broke modern slavery laws. The Old Bailey heard on Monday that Mr Ekweremadu illegally paid a street trader from Lagos, to travel to the UK, for a donation to help Sonia, who suffers from a kidney disease. The defendants deny the charges.

Opening the case, prosecutor Hugh Davies KC said Mr Ekweremadu's "status and influence had produced a significant degree of wealth".
The family from Willesden Green, north-west London, had "international connections" he said. Sonia Ekweremadu's condition, he said, could have been alleviated or cured by a kidney transplant, and the family was "close, open and loving", with a "direct interest in Sonia's medical treatment."

But, he told the jury, rewarding someone for a kidney donation was illegal. He said there was an "obvious risk that those providing organs for transplantation for reward are likely to come from the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society."

The defendants have been charged under modern slavery legislation which makes it an offence to "arrange or facilitate the travel" of a person to the UK for exploitation. This offence carries a higher potential sentence of life, compared to a maximum of three years for illegally making an organ donation.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-64541456

Guilty! A man after my own heart, kidneys, liver etc

A senior wealthy Nigerian politician, his wife and a medical "middleman" have been found guilty of an organ-trafficking plot, after they brought a 21-year-old man to the UK from Lagos.

Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and Dr Obinna Obeta, 50, were convicted of conspiring to exploit the man for his kidney, in the first such case under modern slavery laws. The Old Bailey heard the organ was for the couple's daughter, Sonia, aged 25. She was cleared of the same charge.

The victim, a street trader from Lagos, was brought to the UK last year to provide a kidney in an £80,000 private transplant at the Royal Free Hospital in London. The prosecution said he was offered up to £7,000 and promised opportunities in the UK for helping, and that he only realised what was going on when he met doctors at the hospital.

It was alleged the defendants had tried to convince medics at the Royal Free by pretending he was the cousin of Sonia, who has a debilitating illness and remains on weekly dialysis, when they were not related.

While it is lawful to donate a kidney, it becomes criminal if there is a reward of money or other material advantage. ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-65013545

 

[ramonmercado]

Guilty! A man after my own heart, kidneys, liver etc

A senior wealthy Nigerian politician, his wife and a medical "middleman" have been found guilty of an organ-trafficking plot, after they brought a 21-year-old man to the UK from Lagos.

Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and Dr Obinna Obeta, 50, were convicted of conspiring to exploit the man for his kidney, in the first such case under modern slavery laws. The Old Bailey heard the organ was for the couple's daughter, Sonia, aged 25. She was cleared of the same charge.

The victim, a street trader from Lagos, was brought to the UK last year to provide a kidney in an £80,000 private transplant at the Royal Free Hospital in London. The prosecution said he was offered up to £7,000 and promised opportunities in the UK for helping, and that he only realised what was going on when he met doctors at the hospital.

It was alleged the defendants had tried to convince medics at the Royal Free by pretending he was the cousin of Sonia, who has a debilitating illness and remains on weekly dialysis, when they were not related.

While it is lawful to donate a kidney, it becomes criminal if there is a reward of money or other material advantage. ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-65013545

More background info on the trafficking victim.

Daniel, whose real name cannot be reported for legal reasons, grew up in a big family in rural Nigeria, without running water or electricity.

Aged 15, he was selling mobile phone accessories from a barrow in the capital Lagos and sending money home. In 2022, aged 21, he walked into a police station near Heathrow, tired, homeless and terrified. He told police he had run away because people wanted to take one of his kidneys.

• Trader gives evidence at organ donation plot trial
• Mum accused in organ plot denies helping find donor

While Daniel pushed his barrow, at the other end of the Nigerian social ladder, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice grew increasingly worried about their daughter's health.

The Ekweremadus approached a middleman, Dr Obinna Obeta, who in July 2021, had himself received a kidney donation, using his connections to make it happen: a Nigerian doctor friend in Cambridge organised fundraising, a young donor was found in Nigeria, and the private operation took place at London's Royal Free Hospital. ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65015489

 

[Kondoru]

And they cleared the daughter? She knew what was going on.

 

[ramonmercado]

And they cleared the daughter? She knew what was going on.

Not having heard the full evidence that was put before the jury I'm not sure about that. The extent of her culpability is questionable, a young woman facing death would hardly be expected to carry out due diligence checks on where the donor liver was coming from. She didn't personally locate Daniel and it would be reasonable for her to assume that the hospital was above board in it's procedures.

 

[ramonmercado]

Update.

A wealthy Nigerian politician, his wife and their "middleman" have been jailed for an organ-trafficking plot, after bringing a man to the UK from Lagos.

Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, and his wife Beatrice, 56, wanted the organ for their 25-year-old daughter Sonia, the couple's trial at the Old Bailey heard. The pair and and Dr Obinna Obeta, 50, were convicted previously of conspiring to exploit the man for his kidney. It is said to be the first such case under modern slavery laws.

Ike Ekweremadu, who was described by the judge as the "driving force throughout", was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison.
Dr Obeta was sentenced to 10 years after the judge found he had targeted the potential donor who was young, poor and vulnerable.

Beatrice Ekweremadu was jailed for four years and six months due to her more limited involvement.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-65494027