Nigeria’s Immigration Service says an alleged victim of trafficking for organ harvesting is not a child.
Last week Nigerian Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu were charged in a London court with conspiring to transport a boy to the UK in order to harvest organs.
But Nigeria’s Comptroller General, Idriss Jerre, said the alleged victim’s birth certificate and national identity number presented during registration for his passport showed that he is 21 years old.
“During his interview for his passport on 2 November, 2021, he presented his birth certificate which was certified by the National Population Council. It showed that he was born on 12 October, 2000.
“Please resist making utterances that may damage the image of the service,” Mr Jerre told journalists in a virtual press briefing.
Last week, the UK’s Metropolitan Police said the alleged victim had been taken into care and agencies were working to support him.
Organ-harvesting involves removing parts of the body, often for commercial gain and against the will of the victim.
