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IN the private patient unit of the Royal Free Hospital, London, Sonia Ekweremadu, the 25-year-old daughter of the then deputy president of the Nigerian senate, waited for a kidney donor.
Private organ donation in the UK is limited to immediate blood-tied relatives, but Sonia carried a rare gene that ruled out family donors.
Sonia Ekweremadu with Daniel, the man who was brought into the UK to donate his organ[/caption]
The scheme was masterminded by her father Ike Ekweremadu, an influential Nigerian politician[/caption]
Physician Obinna Obeta served as the middleman for the operation[/caption]
To help find a donor, her father Ike, 60, approached physician Obinna Obeta, who sourced *’Daniel’, a 21-year-old street vendor from Lagos, Nigeria, and a UK visa was fast-tracked for him.
Sonia’s father assured the hospital – where 140 private kidney transplants are conducted every year – that Daniel was her cousin and a match.
But a court would later hear that a broker, in return for £1,500, had coerced Daniel into giving up his kidney.
The operation didn’t go ahead because hospital staff believed he didn’t understand he was going to have an organ removed.
Despite their suspicions, staff did not inform the police.
They only got involved after Daniel, fearing Obeta was going to have his kidney removed back in Nigeria instead, ran away and slept on the street until he had the courage to go to the authorities.
The Metropolitan Police’s modern slavery chief investigator Esther Richardson said the donor was “treated as a commodity,” and called the exchange “a transactional process just like any drugs or firearm deal”.
Esther said: “Had this been successful, the victim would have had long-term medical implications that may even have had the requirement for dialysis.”
She adds: “He is innocent and naive. Having never been on a flight, he was petrified the plane would fall from the sky.”
Obeta engaged in witchcraft to try to brainwash his victim not to escape, which is a common tool in the trafficker’s arsenal, especially in Nigeria where a curse is regularly performed on women being groomed for sex trafficking.
The rich lawmaker arranged for a man to donate his kidney to his daughter Sonia[/caption]
Beatrice was sentenced to four years[/caption]
After an investigation, Sonia’s father Ike Ekweremadu was arrested, convicted and sentenced to more than nine years in prison for trafficking the street vendor for his kidney.
His wife Beatrice, 56, was sentenced to four years and six months in prison. Obeta was convicted for helping traffic the street vendor.
During the trial at the Old Bailey in 2022, the court heard Obeta had earlier received a successful kidney transplant himself at the Royal Free Hospital.
His donor was also a young man he had falsely presented as his cousin. No prosecutions were ever carried forward on that case.
The case against the Ekweremadus was the first of its kind to be successfully tried under the UK’s 2015 Modern Slavery Act, introduced to crack down on organ trafficking and other forms of exploitation.
Daniel, who now lives under police protection in the UK, told investigators he “owed” Obeta his kidney in exchange for a visa and permit to stay in the UK.
“He [Obeta] did not tell me he brought me here for this reason,” Daniel said. “He did not tell me anything about this. I would not have agreed. My body is not for sale.”
Sonia, who was believed to be still awaiting a kidney transplant, was not charged with any crimes as she believed her donor was a relative she had never met before.
Statistics show that almost 10 per cent of organ transplants are from organ trafficking[/caption]
Although organ trafficking is rare inside the UK, the global organ trafficking trade was believed to be worth as much as £1.3billion annually.
In the second part of her book, investigative journalist Barbie Latza Nadeau has laid bare the extent of the sale of body parts, banned by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1987.
Almost 10 per cent of all transplants are from trafficked organs, according to the Global Financial Integrity think tank.
The WHO estimates 10,000 kidneys are traded on the black market a year, averaging more than one illegal kidney transplanted every hour of every day.
There are three categories of organ donors. Firstly, legitimate donors who have joined the NHS’s Organ Donor Register or those who have not “opted out” from the system, as it stands in the UK, meaning their organs can be used in the event of their death.
The second category is those who are murdered or trafficked for their organs without consent.
He [Obeta] did not tell me anything about this. I would not have agreed. My body is not for sale.
Daniel
They may be placed under duress, which can include debt bondage or extortion, and forced to sell a kidney or even a cornea, after which they continue living.
In the worst cases, they may be killed for vital organs like their lungs, heart or pancreas, which are sold to desperately sick buyers for large sums of money.
The third category is a living person who knowingly consents to sell an organ like a kidney for financial gain. This can be done illicitly on the black market, or legitimately, for example, to help a loved one.
“Organ trafficking may be facilitated by corrupt officials or criminal groups and may include brokers or other middlemen who connect individuals providing the organ with prospective recipients, negotiate the price, and identify medical facilities where the transplant can occur,” a 2021 report to US Congress said.
In 2023, the crime data-gathering group Havocscope, which keeps a tally on the black market in organ prices based on open-source information, including police reports and the dark web, listed the average global price paid to a kidney seller as £3,800, enough to support a family for several years in some developing nations.
The buyer, however, pays on average £116,100, depending on the country.
Brokers in places where organ trafficking is more prevalent, like the Philippines, make no more than £1,160 a kidney, while in places where the trade is less transparent, like Yemen, they can make up to £46,400.
Someone in China will pay around £36,700 for a kidney, while a transplant tourist in Israel will pay around £9,700.
Vital organs, which require a deceased donor, are naturally more expensive. A lung goes for about £242,000 in Europe, the group found.
For those in the organ trafficking business, the real money being made is in the US and countries that do not have the protective layer of a national public healthcare system.
In the US, kidneys sell for around £193,400 on the black market, skin around £8 an inch and a heart can fetch £774,000, according to the Medical Futurist.
In countries where national healthcare systems exist, private patients with the right connections can expect to pay £23,000 for a cornea, £116,000 for a set of lungs, £100,000 for a heart and £76,000 for a liver.
In 2020, one organ broker in Beirut admitted selling 30 kidneys a year, harvested from the residents of refugee camps and once bought an eye from a desperate donor.
The deal was done over WhatsApp and even included a photo of the eye to see if the buyer liked the colour.
There are hundreds of thousands of people on kidney transplant waiting lists worldwide, with the average wait in the UK between two to three years, and kidneys are available for only around one-third.
Mortality rates on waiting lists are high, between 15 and 30 per cent, depending on location – factors that allow for the exploitation of desperate people.
As well as backstreet clinics, organs are harvested in private clinics like that in London’s Royal Free Hospital and similar settings all over the world.
Intensive medical expertise is required not only to remove organs but to keep them in a fit state for transplantation.
Human organs have a short shelf life outside the body. Kidneys, if kept properly, can remain viable for up to 36 hours after removal and the donor can go on to live a normal life.
Things become murkier when organs like the heart are involved. The suggestion that people are murdered for their organs implies an unthinkable complicity by medical doctors and hospitals.
But a transplant doctor in Italy, who preferred to remain anonymous, insists that it is not the surgeon’s duty to vet the organs they are presented with.
THERE have been several reported cases of human organ trafficking from around the world. Middlemen often target desperate people living in poverty.
In cases of car accidents, for example, the doctor will be told a vital organ is available while a specialist team keeps the donor alive on life support.
The donor is then taken off life support, usually in accordance with family wishes or living wills.
Iran remains the only country in the world where buying and selling organs is legal for its citizens.
All other countries have banned the practice, at least on paper, but some countries, including China, have been accused by the group Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting of executing prisoners to harvest organs for their large population.
Globally, the demand for organs is high and getting higher because of the increase in cancer, chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular diseases, especially in developed nations.
In 2022, 157,494 transplants were carried out and WHO estimates that ten per cent of those used trafficked organs – meaning 15,749 organs came from people who either sold them illegally or were killed for them.
Organs are also trafficked on the battlefield, where prisoners of war are killed so their organs can be harvested for dictators and injured soldiers.
Battlefield organ trafficking was a common activity in the Syrian civil war and has been documented in Yemen, and most recently, the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where the illegal trade in human organs was well established before Russia’s invasion.
*Name has been changed to protect the victim
Battlefield human trafficking has been documented in countries such as Syria and Yemen[/caption]
Men show off their scars from organs taken from them[/caption]
Surgeons may be duped into using trafficked organs (stock photo)[/caption]
DUBAI is famous for its tall buildings, fast cars and glamour – but when night falls across the city, a much more sinister image emerges.
Young female influencers are being drawn to the glittering UAE by huge sums of cash, but can quickly get caught up in a disturbed cycle of depravity.
Partygoers on a yacht during the Dubai International Boat Show[/caption]
Stunning TV and internet stars are approached with incredible opportunities to “expand their careers” for mega money before becoming trapped by the ultra-rich people that have flown them in.
Once in the country, they are under their complete control where they can be raped, drugged or even end up dead, an expert warned.
Dubai is governed by Sharia law, which criminalises sex outside of marriage, meaning vulnerable women may feel they have no choice but to stay in the shadows or face arrest.
Despite its clean image, the metropolis caters for all sorts of seedy activities for the super rich, with brothels and sex clubs – as well as brutal “Porta Potty” parties.
These sick events involve rich men paying over £70,000 to play out their fantasies in real life and can include vile sex acts such as defecation.
While previously women from impoverished backgrounds may have been sex-trafficked into the country to meet the needs of wealthy clientele, it seems unsavoury characters have a sinister new tactic.
Online personalities and even TV stars are being targeted and sold the dream of a new life in the desert – but experts warn that not all that glitters is gold.
Just last month, a Ukrainian OnlyFans model vanished after attending one of the murky “Porta Potty” parties, the Mirror reported.
Ten days later, she was found battered and bloodied, dumped at a roadside with her limbs and spine broken.
But the mystery deepened when Dubai police said the model’s injuries came from her entering “a restricted construction site” and falling from a height.
Ukrainian police have since launched a sex trafficking probe as they continue to investigate the circumstances around Maria’s disappearance and horror injuries.
Maria is among the key demographic of vulnerable women often taken advantage of by wealthy men in the city, according to other young females with shockingly similar stories.
Founder and CEO of Detained in Dubai, Radha Stirling, told The Sun there have been serious warnings about the vile parties for decades.
She believes the brutal drug-fuelled and coercive nature of the luxury events are often covered up to maintain the city’s positive reputation by its influential power players.
Dubai presents a highly polished and ‘crime-free’ image to the world, but behind the scenes, there is a darker reality that needs to be addressed.
Radha Stirling
Radha says: “It’s exploitation disguised as glamour or opportunity.
“Women, in particular, are offered all sorts of opportunities in Dubai.
“They might be offered to come and model, to come and play music, or to expand their career in some way or another.
“But what they don’t realise is that when they get there, they are essentially at the beck and call of whoever has brought them there.
“They’re under their complete control and they put themselves in such a risky position where they could end up gang raped, they could end up drugged, they could end up dead.”
Radha added: “Dubai presents a highly polished and ‘crime-free‘ image to the world, but behind the scenes, there is a darker reality that needs to be addressed.”
The UAE government, including Dubai’s authorities, has been taking steps to try and combat sex trafficking ever since new laws were introduced in 2006.
In 2023, officials investigated 37 human trafficking cases, with 97 per cent involving sex trafficking, according to the US Department of State – a significant jump from 2022, which saw 27 investigations carried out.
Influential celebrities flock to Dubai’s golden beaches to bask in the all-year-round sunshine, promoting their trips on Instagram and showering the Middle East with compliments – with many dubbing it the “influencer capital of the world”.
But for all the glamorous social media showcases which have drawn thousands to the Emirates in recent years, some have found themselves behind bars for as little as writing a bad review on Google or bumping cars.
Last June, Emirates cabin crew member Tori Towey, 28, from Ireland, was charged with attempting suicide, which is considered a crime in the UAE, and consuming alcohol.
She says she had been in an abusive marriage and, after a row with her husband, tried to end her life.
Police were called, but instead of helping Tori, they strip-searched her and put her in a crowded cell.
Tori Towey was arrested and charged with attempting suicide in Dubai[/caption]
Dubai’s dark underbelly has reared its head again with several horror stories about men luring in woman for depraved acts[/caption]
Former Love Island stars, TikTok influencers and top models have also spoken out about attempts to lure them to Dubai – and it can be a very tempting offer.
Love Island season three star Tyne-Lexy Clarson said she was offered £20,000 to attend a dinner and drinks in the Middle East when she was aged just 19.
She said: “It’s high-end prostitution – it’s just scary to think if they’ve messaged me, they’ve probably sent it to thousands of pretty girls on Instagram.”
She claims she was also offered £50,000 for five nights in Dubai, on the condition that she signed a non-disclosure agreement and what she would be required to do would remain confidential.
The reality TV star raised concerns that struggling influencers may feel more pressure to accept the generous offers to boost their careers.
Rosie Williams, another Love Island star, said she was offered £100,000 a year in addition to all the clothes and bags she wanted if she would become a companion to a man in Dubai.
London-based TikToker Saint Mullan, also publicly addressed an offer she received from Dubai elites.
She claims she was offered £16,000 to fly out and allegedly fulfil a prince‘s bizarre fetishes, including urinating on her. She shared screenshots of their conversations online.
Wealthy model Kayla Jade told her followers that she knows people who have been taken away on private cruise trips where sick acts took place away from the city’s bright lights.
She said it often feels like a “power move” from the men who are looking to gain “ownership over the women”.
Kayla Jade said some wealthy men are looking to gain ‘ownership over the women’[/caption]
Night time at Dubai Marina which is often packed out with pricey yachts[/caption]
Astonishing fees of up to £78,000 have been paid on the provisions that they “fulfil the desires” of the ultra-rich men, according to the New York Post.
In the past, some have allegedly been paid up to £40,000 for extreme acts such as having their teeth pulled, being beaten or even hung up from metal hooks – while harrowing accounts have suggested some participants have allegedly been forced into bestiality, according to dozens of influencers.
Other sick events see women paid jaw-dropping amounts to perform degrading sex acts on a rich payee at “Porta Potty” parties that often involve defecation.
They have gained notoriety in recent years after being discussed on social media sites such as Reddit and X – but Radha says her team have been aware of the twisted events dating back as far as 2008.
She added: “The so-called Porta Potty’ parties are a disturbing example of how women are sometimes lured into degrading or dangerous situations under false pretences.”
Radha accused the legal system in Dubai and much of the Middle East of not doing enough to stop these parties and prosecute those responsible for any alleged attacks.
Dubai has come under scrutiny for it’s women’s rights violations in the past – a man’s consent is still required for marriage, divorce and even certain medical procedures.
Adultery is considered a major crime in the region with an individual being able to seek legal action against their partner if they suspect an extramarital affair.
Conviction for adultery in the UAE carries a minimum sentence of one year and it can be extended up to three years.
THE UAE is made up of seven emirates, of which Dubai is one.
Rules for travellers within the country have always been looked upon as draconian to Westerners heading to the hotspot.
However, changes to laws there have drastically altered the landscape for holidaymakers.
Boozing and living together outside marriage is now allowed in the United Arab Emirates after a historic relaxation of the country’s strict Islamic laws in 2020.
A person still must be at least 21 years old to buy alcohol legally in the UAE and anyone caught selling alcohol to someone deemed underage will be punished.
However, it can still only be consumed privately or in licensed public places.
In a major overhaul of the legal system, so-called honour killings were also criminalised, and there are harsher punishments for men who harass women.
The changes were part of the country’s drive to attract Western tourists and businesses despite the strict Sharia-based legal system.
Around 250,000 Brits live in the UAE, out of 8.4 million foreigners, and dozens have been targeted in recent years for breaking alcohol and drugs laws, or kissing in public.
While there is no official dress code as such, modesty is appreciated and advised, especially in public places.
Homosexuality remains illegal and same-sex marriages are not recognised.
Drugs are strictly forbidden and the Emirati authorities count the presence of drugs in the blood stream as possession.
Swearing and making rude gestures (including online) are considered obscene acts and offenders can be jailed or deported.
Taking pictures or videos of the people, especially women and children without their consent is considered to be an invasion of privacy and you might be penalised or sent to jail.
If you openly criticise or mock or insult Dubai’s royal family, law, culture, and religion you risk the chance of being arrested.
These laws can put young women at risk of being caught up in a criminal case if they are invited into the country or to events by a married individual.
The men luring these women are often some of Dubai’s wealthiest or are very well connected with elite members of society.
Radha warns victims often don’t realise the control these people have and that corruption is rife.
It’s a complete cover-up essentially of what happens under the glitz and glamour and the nightlights of Dubai within its underbelly – and it really does put women at risk.
Radha Stirling
She says: “They [Dubai’s rich power players] can put them in prison if they like, without the woman or the victim having committed any crime whatsoever.
“They have complete control, and they exploit it because they can.
“It’s a complete cover-up essentially of what happens under the glitz and glamour and the nightlights of Dubai within its underbelly – and it really does put women at risk.
“Once they’re there, there’s no getting out of it, and they might find it very difficult to escape without violence or without being falsely reported for a crime and put away in prison.
“There are all sorts of powers that the influential people have in Dubai that they can exude upon their victims.”
Radha made her views clear as she blasted the criminal justice system for “100 per cent failing British women”.
The mystery still remains over the what truly happened to Ukrainian model Maria.
Tiktoker Saint Mullan also revealed she was offered to travel to Dubai[/caption]
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