Aondoaseer Agbadu remanded for alleged organ harvesting in Benue

The Benue State Police Command presented a 20-year-old man, Aondoaseer Agbadu, before the Magistrate Court on Thursday, where he was arraigned on charges related to a conspiracy involving organ harvesting.

Agbadu, along with others, stands accused of deceiving a 17-year-old named Terungwa Swati and taking him to Abuja, where one of his kidneys was forcibly harvested without his consent or that of his parents.

The other individuals implicated in the case reportedly fled when the victim’s father reported the incident to the Aliade police station in the Gwer East Local Government Area of the state.

During Thursday’s court proceedings in the state capital, Makurdi, the police prosecutor, Inspector Godwin Ato, informed the court that Alexander Swati, an individual associated with the Benue Internal Revenue Service office in Aliade, reported the case on August 27.

Ato explained that the case was subsequently transferred from the Divisional Police Headquarters in Aliade to the State Criminal Investigation Department in Makurdi, as indicated in a letter dated August 30 (letter No. AR: 3100/BNS/AL/VOL.4/258).

The prosecutor continued by stating that in April 2023, Aondoaseer Agbadu, located opposite Union Bank in Aliade, conspired with others who are currently at large to deceive and transport Terungwa Swati to Abuja. While in Abuja, the young man underwent an unauthorized kidney operation, during which one of his kidneys was harvested and sold to another individual, all without the consent of the victim or his father.

Inspector Ato noted that Agbadu had been arrested in connection with the crime, but the other suspects remained fugitive.

The charges brought against the accused are in violation of Sections 27 and 20 (1), (2), and (3) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.

As the investigation into the case is still ongoing, no plea was taken due to a lack of jurisdiction. Consequently, Magistrate Mr. Taribo Atta ordered that the accused be remanded at the Federal Maximum Correctional Centre in Makurdi. The case was adjourned to October 23 for further proceedings.