The Benue State Police Command presented Aondoaseer Agbadu, a 20-year-old man, before the Magistrate Court on charges of conspiracy related to organ harvesting.
Agbadu and others allegedly lured a 17-year-old boy, Terungwa Swati, to Abuja, where his kidney was removed without his or his parents’ consent.
Other suspects are believed to have fled after the victim’s father reported the case to the Aliade police station in Gwer East LGA
At a court hearing in Makurdi, the state capital, on Thursday, police prosecutor Inspector Godwin Ato told the court that Alexander Swati, who lives opposite the Benue Internal Revenue Service office in Aliade, reported the case to the police on August 27.
Ato said that the case was transferred from the Aliade Divisional Police Station to the Makurdi State Criminal Investigation Department on August 30, 2023, with letter number AR: 3100/BNS/AL/VOL.4/258.
He added that in April 2023, Aondoaseer Agbadu, who lives opposite Union Bank in Aliade, conspired with others to deceive and take his 17-year-old son, Terungwa Swati, to Abuja.
Ato explained that in Abuja, the suspects operated on Terungwa, removed one of his kidneys, and sold it to someone else without the consent of his father or son. He said that during the police investigation, Agbadu was arrested for the crime, but others are still on the run.
The prosecutor said that Agbadu had violated Sections 27 and 20(1), (2), and (3) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.
He also said that the investigation into the case was still ongoing and requested more time to complete it.
Nevertheless, a plea was not entered due to a lack of jurisdiction.
Magistrate Taribo Atta ordered that Agbadu be held in the Federal Maximum Correctional Centre in Makurdi until October 23, when the case will be mentioned again.