Ike Ekweremadu, an opposition senator in the southern Nigerian state of Enugu, and his wife, Beatrice, were convicted on Thursday for trafficking a street trader from Lagos to Britain to

illegally harvest his kidney for a transplant for their seriously-ill daughter. The couple was found guilty of conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view to exploitation, along with a Nigerian doctor, Obinna Obeta, who was described by prosecutors as a middle man.

Prosecutors said that Ike Ekweremadu, 60, and his wife, 56, had brought the man to London in February last year with the offer of a few thousand dollars for his organ and the promise of work in Britain. The couple, who were significant figures in Nigerian society, possessed power, influence, and a "significant degree of wealth," according to London's Old Bailey court.

Joanne Jakymec, Chief Crown Prosecutor, said, "This was a horrific plot to exploit a vulnerable victim by trafficking him to the UK for the purpose of transplanting his kidney. The convicted defendants showed utter disregard for the victim's welfare, health and well-being and used their considerable influence to a high degree of control throughout, with the victim having limited understanding of what was really going on here."

Sonia Ekweremadu, the intended recipient of the organ, who has a serious and deteriorating kidney condition and requires dialysis, was found not guilty of any part in the plan. The proposed transplant never went ahead as a consultant at London's Royal Free hospital had become suspicious about the circumstances surrounding the proposed donor, aged about 21, who the family had tried to pass off as Sonia's cousin.

The case came to light when the man, who had made a living in Lagos selling telephone parts from a cart in a market, went to the police saying he had been trafficked, and someone was trying to harvest his kidney. Photo by Shiraz Chakera, Wikimedia commons.